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ACROSS    SOUTH    AMERICA 


RCOVADO 


ACROSS 
S^UTH  AMERICA 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  A  JOURNEY  FROM  BUENOS 
AIRES  TO  LIMA  BY  WAY  OF  POTOSI 

WITH   NOTES  ON   BRAZIL,  ARGENTINA, 
BOLIVIA,  CHILE,  AND   PERU 

BY 

HIRAM  BINGHAM 

YALE  UNIVERSITY 

WITH    EIGHTY    ILLUSTRATIONS 
AND    MAPS 


2^-?^6  r-^ 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 


H  'S  ^  5  ^^ 


COPYRIGHT,    I9II,    BY   HIRAM   BINGHAM 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 

Published  April  IQJI 


1)51 


THIS  VOLUME   IS 

AFFECTIONATELY   DEDICATED 

TO 

THE   MOTHER   OF 

SIX  LITTLE   BOYS 


PREFACE 

IN  September,  1908,  I  left  New  York  as  a  delegate 
of  the  United  States  Government  and  of  Yale 
University  to  the  First  Pan-American  Scientific 
Congress,  held  at  Santiago,  Chile,  in  December  and 
January,  1908-09.  Before  attending  the  Congress  I 
touched  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  the  principal  coast 
cities  of  Brazil,  crossed  the  Argentine  Republic  from 
Buenos  Aires  to  the  Bolivian  frontier,  rode  on  mule- 
back  through  southern  Bolivia,  visiting  both  Potosi 
and  Sucre,  went  by  rail  from  Oruro  to  Antofagasta, 
and  thence  by  steamer  to  Valparaiso.  After  the 
Congress  I  retraced  my  steps  into  Bolivia  by  way 
of  the  west  coast,  Arequlpa,  and  Lake  Titicaca. 
Picking  up  the  overland  trail  again  at  .Oruro,  L  con- 
tinued my  journey  across  Bolivia  and  Peru,  via  La 
Paz,  Tiahuanaco,  and  Cuzco,  thence  by  mules  over 
the  old  Inca  road  as  far  as  Huancayo,  the  present 
terminus  of  the  Oroya-Lima  Railroad.  At  Abancay 
I  turned  aside  to  explore  Choqquequirau,  the  ruins 
of  an  Inca  fortress  in  the  valley  of  the  Apurimac ;  an 
excursion  that  could  not  have  been  undertaken  at 
all  had  it  not  been  for  the  very  generous  assistance 
of  Hon.  J.  J.  Nuiiez,  the  Prefect  of  Apurimac,  and  his 
zealous  aide.  Lieutenant  Caceres  of  the  Peruvian 
army.   I  reached  Lima  in  March,  1909. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  trip  lay  in  its  being  an 
exploration  of  the  most  historic  highway  in  South 
America,  the  old  trade  route  between  Lima,  Potosi, 
and  Buenos  Aires.   The  more  difficult  parts  of  this 


VIU 


PREFACE 


road  were  used  by  the  Incas  and  their  conqueror 
Pizarro;  by  Spanish  viceroys,  mine  owners,  and  mer- 
chants; by  the  Hberating  armies  of  Argentina;  and 
finally  by  BoHvar  and  Sucre,  who  marched  and 
countermarched  over  it  in  the  last  campaigns  of  the 
Wars  of  Independence. 

Realizing  from  previous  experience  in  Venezuela 
and  Colombia  that  the  privilege  of  travelling  in  a 
semi-official  capacity  would  enable  me  to  enjoy 
unusual  opportunities  for  observation,  I  made  it 
the  chief  object  of  my  journey  to  collect  and  verify 
information  regarding  the  South  American  people, 
their  history,  politics,  economics,  and  physical  en- 
vironment. The  present  volume,  however,  makes 
no  pretence  at  containing  all  I  collected  or  verified. 
Such  a  work  would  be  largely  a  compilation  of  sta- 
tistics. The  ordinary  facts  are  readily  accessible  in 
the  current  publications  of  the  ably  organized  Pan- 
American  Bureau  in  Washington.  Nevertheless,  I 
have  included  some  data  that  seemed  likely  to  prove 
serviceable  to  intending  travellers. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  for  kind  assistance 
freely  rendered  in  many  different  ways  is  due  to 
President  Villazon  of  Bolivia,  the  late  President 
Montt  of  Chile,  and  President  Leguia  of  Peru;  to 
Secretary,  now  Senator,  Root  and  the  officials  of  the 
Diplomatic  and  Consular  Service;  to  Professor  Rowe 
and  my  fellow  delegates  to  the  Pan-American  Scien- 
tific Congress;  and  particularly  to  J.  Luis  Schaefer, 
Esq.,  W.  S.  Eyre,  Esq.,  and  their  courteous  asso- 
ciates of  the  house  of  W.  R.  Grace  &  Co.  Although 
business  houses  rarely  take  the  trouble  to  make  the 


PREFACE  ix 

path  of  the  scientist  or  investigator  more  comfort- 
able, it  would  be  no  easy  task  to  enumerate  all  the 
favors  that  were  shown,  not  only  to  me,  but  also  to 
the  other  members  of  the  American  delegation,  by 
Messrs.  Grace  &  Co.  and  the  managers  and  clerks 
of  their  many  branches. 

Acknowledgments  are  likewise  due  to  the  officials 
of  the  Buenos  Aires  and  Rosario  Railroad,  the  Peru- 
vian Corporation,  and  the  Bolivia  Railway;  and  to 
Colonel  A.  de  Pederneiras,  Sr.  Amaral  Franco,  Don 
Santiago  Hutcheon,  Sr.  C.  A.  Novoa,  Sr.  Arturo 
Pino  Toranzo,  Dr.  Alejandro  Ayal4,  Captain  Louis 
Merino  of  the  Chilean  army,  Don  Moises  Vargas, 
Sr.  Lopez  Chavez,  and  Messrs.  Charles  L.  Wilson, 
A.  G.  Snyder,  U.  S.  Grant  Smith,  J.  B.  Beazley,  D. 
S.  Iglehart,  John  Pierce  Hope,  Rankin  Johnson, 
Rea  Hanna,  and  a  host  of  others  who  helped  to  make 
my  journey  easier  and  more  profitable. 

I  desire  also  to  express  my  gratitude,  for  unnum- 
bered kindnesses,  both  to  Huntington  Smith,  who 
accompanied  me  during  the  first  part  of  my  jour- 
ney, and  to  Clarence  Hay,  who  was  my  faithful  com- 
panion on  the  latter  part. 

Some  parts  of  the  story  have  already  been  told  in 
the  ** American  Anthropologist,"  the  "American 
Political  Science  Review,"  the  "Popular  Science 
Monthly,"  the  "  Bulletin  of  the  American  Geo- 
graphical Society,"  the  "  Records  of  the  Past,"  and 
the  "Yale  Courant,"  to  whose  editors  acknowledg- 
ment is  due  for  permission  to  use  the  material  in  its 

present  form. 

Hiram  Bingham. 

Yale  University,  New  Haven,  Conn. 
20  November,  1910. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  Pernambuco  and  Bahia 3 

II.  Rio,  Santos,  and  Brazilian  Trade     .    .    .    .     i6 

III.  Buenos  Aires 29 

IV.  Argentine  Independence  and  Spanish-American  , 

Solidarity 46      .^.i 

V.  The  Tucuman  Express       60 

VI.  Through  the  Argentine  Highlands  ....  69  _ 

VI I.  Across  the  Bolivian  Fft(^TiER       81 

VIII.  TupizA  TO  Cotagaita 92 

IX.  EscARA  TO  Laja  Tambo      104 

X.  PoTOsi 117 

XI.  Sucre,  the  dejure  Capital  of  Bolivia    .    .  133 

XII.  The  Road  to  Challapata 148 

XIII.  Oruro  to  Antofagasta  and  Valparaiso     .    .164 

XIV.  Santiago  and  the  First  Pan-American  Scien- 

tific Congress 180 

XV.  Northern  Chile 198        '\ 

XVI.  Southern  Peru 211 

XVII.  La  Paz,  the  de  facto  Capital  of  Bolivia    .  224 


xii  CONTENTS 

XVIII.  The  Bolivia  Railway  and  Tiahuanaco      .    .  241 

XIX.  Cuzco 254 

XX.  Sacsahuaman 272 

XXI.  The  Inca  Road  to  Abancay 280 

XXII.  The  Climb  to  Choqquequirau 296 

XXIII.  Choqquequirau 307 

XXIV.  Abancay  to  Chincheros 324 

XXV.    BOMBON  TO  the   BATTLEFIELD   OF  AyACUCHO        .   34 1 

XXVI.  Ayacucho  to  Lima 360 

XXVII.  Certain  South  American  Traits 379 

Index " .    •  393 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Rio  from  the  Corcovado  (page  21)  ....  Frontispiece 
Looking  down  into  the  Lower  City,  Bahia     ....     12 

The  Corcovado  from  Rio 20 

The  Harbor  of  Santos 24 

The  Docks  of  Buenos  Aires 30 

Avenida  25  DE  Mayo,  Buenos  Aires 34 

The  Uspallata  Pass 50 

Our  Coach  leaving  the  Hotel  at  La  Quiaca      ...     82 

The  Angosta  de  Tupiza 86 

Fantastic  Pinnacles  in  the  Valleys  North  of  Tupiza    90 

A  QuicHUA  Family  going  to  plough 94 

The  Valley  through  which  we  had  come 98 

Our  First  Glimpse  OF  a  Snow-clad  Bolivian  Mountain  112 
View  of  the  Cerro  from  the  Roof  of  the  Mint  .  .120 
The  Cerro  of  Potosi  from  the  Spanish  Reservoirs    .  124 

An  Ancient  Quichua  Ore  Crusher 124 

The  Market-Place  of  Potosi       128 

Greener  and  more  Populous  Valleys 132 

The  Picturesque  Old  Church  of  Bartolo  .  .  .  .134 
A  Pasture  for  Sheep  and  Alpacas 138 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

A  QuiCHUA  Woman  weaving  at  Quebrada  Honda     .    .138 

The  Great  River  Pilcomayo 142 

Our  Hotel  in  Sucre 142 

An  Abandoned  Tambo 150 

Our  First  View  of  the  Great  Table-land  of  Bolivia    .  150 

A  Friendly  Llama  Baby 160 

My  Mule  on  the  Last  Day's  Ride 160 

The  Prefectura  and  Plaza  of  Cruro  166 

A  Quaint  Old  Balcony  in  Oruro 170 

A  Corner  in  Oruro 170 

Battlefield  of  Maipo  near  Santiago 186 

mollendo 212 

The  Cathedral  of  Arequipa  and  Mt.  Chachani      .    .216 

An  Old  Doorway  in  Arequipa 216 

Chachani  and  Misti 216 

Monolithic  Image  at  Tiaiiuanaco 228 

The  Market-Place  of  La  Paz 232 

A  Remarkable  Stairway  at  Tiahuanaco 232 

Balsas  near  Guaqui  on  Lake  Titicaca 240 

An  Old  Church  near  the  Bolivia  Railway     ....  240 
Great  Platforms  of  Stone  weighing  ALxny  Tons    .    .  250 

Part  of  the  Great  Monolithic  Doorway 250 

Llamas  of  Cuzco 258 

CUZCO   FROM   SACSAHUAMAN 258 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 

Sacsahuaman 266 

The  Plaza,  Cuzco,  with  Cathedral  and  Jesuit  Church  266 
A  Section  of  the  Lower  Terrace,  Sacsahuaman     .    .  274 

An  Inca  Vase  from  Cuzco 278 

Articles  of   Dress  and  a  Decorated   Mule   Halter 

FROM  Cuzco 278 

The  Gobernador  of  Curahuasi  and  his  Family  .  .  288 
A  Chasm  down  which  plunged  a  Small  Cataract  .    .  298 

The  Wonderful  Canon  of  the  Apurimac 298 

Sunrise  at  Choqquequirau       302 

The  Frail  Little  Bridge  over  the  Apurimac  .  .  .  302 
A  Story  and  a  Half  High,  built  of  Stones  laid  in  Clay  .  308 

The  Party  Wall  rises  to  the  Peak 308 

The  Interior  of  the  Buildings  near  the  Outer  Precipice  312 
The  Upper  Six  Steps  of  the  Giant  Stairway      .    .    .312 

Skulls,  etc.,  from  Choqquequirau 316 

Interior  of  a  Building  at  Choqquequirau  .  .  .  .316 
Our  Cavalcade  on  the  Bridge  of  Pachachaca  .  .  .  324 
Some  of  the  Sheep  had  very  Long  Curly  Horns    .    .    .  334 

The  Club  at  Chincheros 338 

The  Large  Plaza  of  Ayacucho 342 

The  Bridge  over  the  River  Pampas 342 

Ayacucho 346 

The  Courtyard  of  the  Hotel 346 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

A  Picturesque  Corner  in  Ayacucho 350 

Crossing  the  Pongora  River  on  the  Shaky  Suspension 

Bridge       350 

The  Battlefield  of  Ayacucho 354 

The  Battlefield  as  it  appeared  to  the  Spaniards    .    .  354 

The  Bridge  over  the  Huarpa 362 

Urumyosi 366 

The  Hut  near  Paucara 366 

The  Toll-Bridge  of  Tablachaca 368 

Sunday  Morning  in  Huancayo 372 

MAPS 

The  Author's  Route  across  South  America     ....      3 

Southern  Bolivia 81 

Southern  Peru 254 

Choqquequirau  and  Vicinity 307 

Lower  Plaza  Choqquequirau 310 

Upper  Plaza  Choqquequirau 314 

Cuzco  and  Neighboring  Fortresses 318 

The  frontispiece  and  the  illustration  at  page  20  are  from  photographs  by 
Marc  Fcrrez.  Those  at  pages  50,  216,  228,  232,  258,  298,  302,  324,  342,  346, 
3S0i  354.  and  362  are  from  photographs  by  Mr.  C.  L.  Hay;  and  those  at  pages 
150,  160,  170  from  photographs  by  Mr.  H.  Smith. 


ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 


ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

CHAPTER  I 

PERNAMBUCO  AND   BAHIA 

THERE  are  two  ways  of  going  to  the  east  coast 
of  South  America.  The  traveller  can  sail  from 
New  York  in  the  monthly  boats  .of  the  direct  line 
or,  if  he  misses  that  boat,  as  I  did,  and  is  pressed  for 
time,  he  can  go  to  Southampton  or  Cherbourg  and 
be  sure  of  an  excellent  steamer  every  week.  The 
old  story  that  one  was  obliged  to  go  by  way  of  Eu- 
rope to  get  to  Brazil  is  no  longer  true,  although  this 
pleasing  fiction  is  still  maintained  by  a  few  officials 
when  they  are  ordered  to  go  from  Lima  on  the  Pa- 
cific to  the  Peruvian  port  of  Iquitos  on  the  Amazon. 
If  they  succeed  in  avoiding  the  very  unpleasant 
overland  journey  via  Cerro  de  Pasco,  they  are  apt 
to  find  that  the  "only  feasible"  alternative  route 
is  by  way  of  Panama,  New  York,  and  Paris ! 

Personally  I  was  glad  of  the  excuse  to  go  the  longer 
way,  for  I  knew  that  the  exceedingly  comfortable 
new  steamers  of  the  Royal  Mall  Line  were  likely  to 
carry  many  Brazilians  and  Argentinos,  from  whom 
I  could  learn  much  that  I  wanted  to  know.  They 
proved  to  be  most  kind  and  communicative,  and 
gave  me  an  excellent  introduction  to  the  point  of 
view  of  the  modern  denizen  of  the  east  coast  whose 
lands  have  received  the  "golden  touch"  that  comes 


4  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

from  foreign  capital,  healthy  immigration,  and  rap- 
idly expanding  railway  systems.  I  was  also  fortu- 
nate in  finding  on  board  the  Aragon  a  large  num- 
ber of  those  energetic  English,  Scots,  and  French, 
whose  well-directed  efforts  have  built  up  the  in- 
dustries of  their  adopted  homes,  until  the  Spanish- 
Americans  can  hardly  recognize  the  land  of  their 
birth,  and  the  average  North  American,  who  visits 
the  east  coast  for  the  first  time,  rubs  his  eyes  in  de- 
spair and  wonders  where  he  has  been  while  all  this 
railroad  building  and  bank  merging  has  been  going 
on.  If  there  were  few  Germans  and  Italians  on  board, 
it  was  not  because  they  were  not  crossing  the  ocean 
at  the  same  time,  but  because  they  preferred  the 
new  steamers  of  their  own  lines.  I  could  have  trav- 
elled a  little  faster  by  sailing  under  the  German  or 
the  Italian  flag,  but  in  that  case  I  should  not  have 
seen  Pernambuco  and  Bahia,  which  the  more  speedy 
steamers  now  omit  from  their  Itinerary. 

The  Brazilians  call  the  easternmost  port  of  South 
America,  Recife,  "The  Reef,"  but  to  the  average 
person  it  will  always  be  known  as  Pernambuco. 
Most  travellers  who  touch  here  on  their  way  from 
Europe  to  Buenos  Aires,  prefer  to  see  what  they  can 
of  this  quaint  old  city  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer, 
anchored  a  mile  out  in  the  open  roadstead.  The  great 
ocean  swell,  rolling  in  from  the  eastward,  makes  the 
tight  little  surf  boats  bob  up  and  down  in  a  dangerous 
fashion.  It  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  venture  down 
the  slippery  gangway  and  take  one's  chances  at  leap- 
ing into  the  strong  arms  of  swarthy  boatmen,  whom 
the  waves  bring  upward  toward  you  with  startling 


PERNAMBUCO  AND   BAHIA  5 

suddenness,  and  who  fall  away  again  so  exasper- 
atingly  just  as  you  have  made  up  your  mind  to  jump. 

Out  of  three  hundred  first-cabin  passengers  on 
the  Aragon,  there  were  only  five  of  us  who  ventured 
ashore,  —  three  Americans,  a  Frenchman,  and  a 
Scotchman.  The  other  passengers,  including  sev- 
eral representatives  of  the  English  army  —  but  I 
will  say  no  more,  for  they  afterwards  wrote  me  that, 
on  their  return  journey  to  England,  the  charms  of 
Pernambuco  overcame  their  fear  of  the  "white 
horses  of  the  sea,"  and  they  felt  well  repaid. 

Pernambuco  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  most 
interesting  places  on  the  East  Coast.  From  the 
steamer  one  can  see  little  more  than  a  long  low  line 
of  coast,  dotted  here  and  there  with  white  buildings 
and  a  lighthouse  or  two.  To  the  north  several  miles 
away,  on  a  little  rise  of  ground,  is  the  ancient  town 
of  Olinda,  founded  by  the  Portuguese  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  a  hundred  years  before  Henry  Hudson 
stepped  ashore  on  Manhattan  Island.  By  the  time 
that  our  ancestors  were  beginning  to  consider  es- 
tablishing a  colony  in  Massachusetts,  the  Portu- 
guese had  already  built  dozens  of  sugar  factories 
in  this  vicinity.  Then  the  Dutch  came  and  con- 
quered, built  Pernambuco  and,  during  their  twenty- 
five  years  on  this  coast,  made  It  the  administrative 
centre  for  their  colony  In  northeast  Brazil.  Their 
capital,  four  miles  north  of  the  present  commercial 
centre,  is  now  a  village  of  ruined  palaces  and  an- 
cient convents.  The  Dutch  had  large  interests  on 
the  Brazilian  seaboard  and  carried  away  quanti- 
ties of  sugar  and  other  precious  commodities,  as  is 


6  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA, 

set  forth  In  many  of  their  quaint  old  books.  The 
drawings  which  old  Nieuhof  put  In  his  sumptuous 
folio  two  centuries  ago  are  still  vivid  and  lifelike, 
even  if  they  serve  only  to  emphasize  the  great  change 
that  has  come  over  this  part  of  the  world  in  that 
time. 

Now,  three  trans-Atlantic  cables  touch  here,  and 
it  is  a  port  of  call  for  half  a  dozen  lines  of  steamers. 
The  old  Dutch  caravels  used  to  find  excellent  shel- 
ter behind  the  great  natural  breakwater,  the  reef 
that  made  the  port  of  Recife  possible.  No  part  of 
the  east  coast  of  Brazil  possesses  more  strategical 
importance,  and  modern  improvements  have  deep- 
ened the  entrance  so  that  vessels  drawing  less  than 
fifteen  feet  may  enter  and  lie  in  quiet  water,  although 
the  great  ocean  liners  are  obliged  to  ride  at  anchor 
outside.  Tugs  bring  out  lighters  for  the  cargo,  but 
the  passengers  have  to  trust  to  the  mercy  of  the  surf 
boats. 

It  took  six  dusky  oarsmen  to  pull  us  through  the 
surf  and  around  the  lighthouse  that  marks  the  north- 
ern extremity  of  the  reef,  into  the  calm  waters  of  the 
harbor.  On  the  black  reef  a  few  rods  south  of  the 
lighthouse  stands  an  antiquated  castle,  which  mod- 
ern guns  would  make  short  work  of,  but  which  served 
its  purpose  admirably  by  defending  the  port  against 
the  sea  rovers  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Opposite 
this  breakwater,  on  two  or  three  "sea  islands"  whose 
tidal  rivers  cut  them  off  from  the  mainland,  the 
older  part  of  Pernambuco  is  built. 

It  was  with  a  feeling  of  having  miraculously  es- 
caped from  the  dangers  of  a  very  stormy  voyage, 


PERNAMBUCO  AND   BAHIA  7 

that  we  clambered  up  the  slippery  stone  stairs  of  the 
landing  stage  and  entered  the  little  two-storied  oc- 
tagonal structure  which  serves  the  custom  house 
as  a  place  in  which  to  examine  incoming  passengers. 
This  took  but  a  moment,  and  then  we  went  out  into 
the  glaring  white  sunlight  of  this  ancient  tropical 
city  and  began  our  tour  of  inspection. 

Immediately  in  front  of  us  was  a  line  of  ware- 
houses three  or  four  stories  high  and  attractively 
built  of  stone.  They  give  the  water-front  an  air  of 
permanency  and  good  breeding.  Between  them  and 
the  sea-wall  there  was  a  tree-planted,  stone-paved 
area,  the  Rialto  of  Recife,  where  all  classes,  from 
talkative  half-tipsy  pieces  of  foreign  driftwood  to 
well-dressed  local  merchants,  clad  in  immaculate 
white  suits,  congregate  and  gossip.  Beyond  the  sea- 
wall a  dozen  small  ocean  steamers  lay  inside  the 
harbor,  moored  to  the  breakwater;  while  numbers 
of  smaller  vessels,  sloops,  schooners,  and  brigantines 
were  anchored  near  the  custom  house  docks  or  in 
the  sluggish  Rio  Beberibe,  which  separates  Recife 
from  the  mainland. 

As  we  wandered  through  the  streets  past  the 
Stock  Exchange,  the  naval  station,  and  the  princi- 
pal business  houses,  we  saw  various  sights:  a  poorly 
dressed  Brazilian,  of  mixed  African  and  Portuguese 
descent,  carrying  a  small  coffin  on  his  head;  bare- 
footed children  standing  in  pools  of  water  left  in 
the  paved  sidewalks  by  the  showers  of  the  morning ; 
bareheaded  women,  with  gayly  colored  shawls  over 
their  shoulders;  neat  German  clerks  dressed  In  glis- 
tening white  duck  suits;  lounging  boatmen  in  nonde- 


8  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

script  apparel ;  and  everywhere  long,  low  drays  loaded 
with  bags  of  sugar,  each  vehicle  drawn  by  a  single 
patient  ox  whose  horns  are  lashed  to  a  cross-piece 
that  connects  the  front  end  of  the  thills.  Those  who 
moved  at  all  moved  as  if  there  were  abundant  time 
in  which  to  do  everything,  and  as  though  the  hustle 
and  bustle  of  lower  New  York  never  existed  at  all. 
The  scene  was  distinctively  Latin- American.  One 
must  be  careful  not  to  say  "  Spanish- American " 
here,  for  if  there  is  one  thing  more  than  another 
that  the  Brazilian  is  proud  of,  it  is  that  he  is  not  a 
Spaniard  and  does  not  speak  Spanish.  However,  the 
difference  between  the  two  languages  is  not  so  great 
and  the  local  pride  not  so  strong  but  that  the  oblig- 
ing natives  will  understand  you,  even  if  you  have 
the  bad  taste  to  address  them  in  Spanish.  They  will 
reply,  however,  in  Portuguese,  and  then  it  is  your 
turn  to  be  obliging  and  understand  them,  if  you  can. 

West  of  Recife,  on  another  island  and  on  the  main- 
land, are  the  other  public  buildings,  parks,  and  the 
finest  residences.  A  primitive  tram-car,  pulled  by 
mules,  crosses  the  bridge  and  jangles  along  toward 
the  suburbs,  which  are  quite  pretty,  although  some 
of  the  houses  strive  after  bizarre  color-effects  which 
would  not  be  appropriate  in  the  Temperate  Zone. 
There  are  fairly  good  hotels  here,  and  there  is  quite 
a  little  English  colony.  But  it  is  not  a  place  where 
the  white  man  thrives.  The  daily  range  of  tempera- 
ture is  very  small,  and  it  is  claimed  that  the  average 
difference  between  the  wet  and  dry  season  is  only 
three  degrees. 

From   Pernambuco  there  radiate  three  or  four* 


PERNAMBUCO  AND  BAHIA  9 

railways,  north,  west,  and  south.  None  of  them  are 
more  than  two  hundred  miles  long,  but  all  serve  to 
gather  up  the  rich  crops  of  sugar  and  cotton  for 
which  the  surrounding  region  is  noted,  and  bring 
them  to  the  cargo  steamers  that  offer  in  exchange 
the  manufactured  products  of  Europe  and  America. 
If  one  may  judge  from  the  size  of  the  custom  house 
and  the  busy  scene  there,  where  half  a  dozen  steam 
cranes  were  actively  engaged  in  unloading  goods 
destined  to  pay  the  annoyingly  complex  Brazilian 
tariff,  the  business  of  the  port  is  very  considerable. 
It  seemed  quite  strange  to  see  such  mechanical 
activity  and  such  a  modern  customs  warehouse  so 
closely  associated  with  the  narrow,  foul-smelling 
streets  of  the  old  town.  But  it  gives  promise  of  a 
larger  and  more  important  city  in  the  years  to  come, 
when  the  new  docks  shall  have  been  built  and  still 
more  modern  methods  introduced. 

Yet  even  now  there  are  over  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  people  in  the  city,  and  the  mercantile 
houses  do  a  good  business.  The  clerks  move  slowly, 
and  there  is  little  appearance  of  enterprise;  but  one 
must  always  remember,  when  inclined  to  criticise 
the  business  methods  of  the  tropics,  that  this  is  not  a 
climate  where  one  can  safely  hurry.  Things  must  be 
done  slowly  if  the  doer  is  to  last  any  length  of  time. 
The  commercial  traveller  who  comes  here  full  of 
brusque  and  zealous  activity,  will  soon  chafe  him- 
self into  a  fever  if  he  is  not  careful.  These  are  easy- 
going folk,  and  political  and  commercial  changes  do 
not  affect  them  seriously.  They  are  willing  to  stand 
governmental  conditions  that  would  be  almost  in- 


10  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

tolerable  to  us,  and  their  haphazard  methods  of  busi- 
ness are  well  suited  to  their  environment.  The  Eu- 
ropean, although  proverbially  less  adaptable  than 
the  American,  is  forced  by  keener  competition  at 
home  to  adjust  himself  as  best  he  may  to  the  local 
conditions  here  and  elsewhere  in  South  America. 
His  American  colleague,  on  the  other  hand,  has  as 
yet  not  felt  the  necessity  of  learning  to  meet  what 
seems  to  him  ridiculous  prejudice. 

Emblematic  of  this  Brazilian  trade  are  the  primi- 
tive little  catamarans  in  which  the  fishermen  of 
Recife  venture  far  out  into  the  great  ocean.  The  frail 
little  craft  are  only  moderately  safe,  and  at  best  can 
bring  back  but  a  small  quantity  of  fish.  They  are 
most  uncomfortable,  and  their  occupants  are  kept 
wet  most  of  the  time  by  the  waves  that  dash  over 
them.  Furthermore,  a  glimpse  of  them  is  as  much 
of  Pernambuco  as  most  steamship  passengers  get. 
It  is  only  by  venturing  and  taking  the  trouble  to  go 
ashore  that  one  can  see  the  modern  custom  house 
dock  on  the  other  side  of  Recife,  and  learn  the  les- 
son of  the  possibilities  of  commerce  here. 

We  left  Pernambuco  in  the  afternoon  and  reached 
the  green  hills  of  the  coast  near  Bahia  the  next  morn- 
ing. The  steamers  pass  near  enough  to  the  shore  to 
enable  one  to  make  out,  with  the  glasses,  watering- 
places  and  pretty  little  villas  that  have  been  built 
on  the  ocean  side  of  the  peninsula  by  the  wealthier 
citizens  of  Bahia.  At  the  end  of  the  promontory,  just 
above  the  rocks  and  the  breakers,  is  the  picturesque 
white  tower  of  a  lighthouse.  Unfortunately,  it  did 
not  avail  to  save  a  fine  German  steamer  that  was 


PERNAMBUCO  AND   BAHIA  ii 

lying  wrecked  on  the  dangerous  shoals  near  the  en- 
trance to  the  harbor  when  we  passed  in. 

As  we  steamed  slowly  around  the  southern  end 
of  the  low  promontory,  the  city  of  Bahia  gradually 
came  into  view,  its  large  stone  warehouses  lining  the 
water-front,  its  lower  town  separated  by  a  steep  hill, 
covered  with  gardens  and  graceful  palms,  from  the 
upper  city,  conspicuous  with  the  towers  and  cupolas 
of  numerous  churches  and  public  buildings. 

On  the  left,  as  one  enters  the  harbor,  rises  the  in- 
teresting island  of  Itaparica,  which  England  once 
offered  to  take  in  payment  of  a  debt  due  her  by 
Portugal.  It  bears  a  resemblance  to  Gibraltar  in 
more  ways  than  one,  but  it  was  not  destined  to  be- 
come a  British  stronghold.  A  favorite  resort  of  the 
citizens  of  Bahia,  it  is  called  "the  Europe  of  the 
poor,"  because  it  has  a  genial  climate  and  is  fre- 
quented by  those  who  cannot  afford  to  cross  the 
Atlantic. 

As  we  leave  It  on  our  left,  in  front  of  us,  and  to  the 
north,  lies  the  magnificent  bay  that  has  given  the 
city  its  name.  It  lacks  the  romantic  mountains  that 
make  Rio  so  famous,  yet  Its  beautiful  blue  waters 
are  most  alluring,  dotted  as  they  are  here  and  there 
with  the  white  sails  of  fishing-boats  and  catamarans. 

We  have  to  anchor  a  mile  from  the  shore,  and  a 
steam  launch  carrying  the  port  officials  soon  comes 
alongside.  The  local  boatmen,  whose  little  craft, 
suited  only  to  the  quiet  waters  of  the  bay,  bear  no 
resemblance  to  the  seaworthy  surf  boats  of  Pernam- 
buco,  line  up  at  a  distance  of  half  a  mile,  awaiting  the 
signal  which  permits  them  to  hoist  sail  and  race  for 


12  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  steamer.  It  is  a  pretty  sight,  enlivened  by  the 
shouts  of  the  boat  crews.  Some  boats  are  loaded  with 
delicious  tropical  fruits  that  are  eagerly  bargained 
for  by  our  steerage  passengers,  most  of  whom  are 
Spanish  peasants  on  their  way  to  harvest  the  crops 
of  Argentina.  Others  are  anxious  to  take  us  ashore. 
And  after  the  usual  delay,  we  make  a  deal  with  a 
boatman,  a  lazy  fellow  who  wastes  a  lot  of  time  try- 
ing to  sail  in  against  the  wind  while  his  more  ener- 
getic competitors  are  rowing.  On  the  way  we  pass 
half  a  dozen  steamers  and  a  few  sailing  vessels,  and 
steer  carefully  between  scores  of  huge  lighters  and 
dozens  of  smaller  craft.  In  place  of  the  steel  steam 
cranes  which  we  saw  at  Pernambuco,  on  the  wharves 
are  numerous  wooden  cranes  worked  by  hand. 

We  land  on  slippery  wooden  stairs,  and  hurry 
across  the  blistering  hot  pavements  of  the  street 
to  rest  for  a  few  moments  in  the  shade  of  the  large 
warehouses  and  wholesale  shops  that  crowd  the 
lower  town.  Some  of  the  signs  are  decidedly  bizarre 
and  scream  as  loudly  for  patronage  as  the  limits 
of  modern  Frenchified  Portuguese  art  will  permit. 
There  is  none  of  the  picturesqueness  of  Pernambuco, 
and  we  soon  betake  ourselves  to  one  of  the  cog  rail- 
ways where,  for  a  few  cents,  we  are  allowed  to  scram- 
ble into  a  bare  little  wooden  passenger  coach  and  be 
yanked  up  the  steep  incline  by  a  cable  that  looks 
none  too  strong  for  its  purpose.  Once  in  the  upper 
city,  the  narrow  streets  of  commerce  seem  to  be  left 
behind,  and  we  are  in  broader  thoroughfares,  with 
here  and  there  a  green  park  full  of  palms  and  other 
tropical  plants.   There  are  churches  on  every  side, 


I 


LOOKING   DOWN    INTO  THE   LOWER   CITY.    BAHIA 


PERNAMBUCO  AND   BAHIA  13 

some  of  them  wonderfully  decorated  and  most  at- 
tractive. Bahia  is  not  quite  so  old  as  Pernambuco, 
its  foundation  dating  only  from  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century;  but  it  early  became  the  religious 
and  intellectual  centre  of  Portuguese- America,  and 
it  is  still  noted  forits  literature  and  culture,  although 
long  ago  passed  in  the  race  by  Rio. 

The  glaring  white  sunlight  throws  everything  into 
bold  relief  and  makes  the  shadows  seem  unusually 
dark  and  cool.  On  the  corners  of  the  streets  are  little 
folding  stands  bearing  a  heavy  load  of  toothsome 
confectionery.  Their  barefooted  coal-black  owners, 
clad  generally  in  white,  lean  against  the  iron  posts 
of  the  American  Trolley  Car  System  and  watch 
patiently  for  the  trade  that  seems  sure  to  come  to 
him  who  waits.   On  every  side  one  sees  black  faces. 

In  fact,  Bahia  is  sometimes  popularly  spoken  of 
as  the  "Old  Mulattress,"  in  affectionate  reference 
to  the  fact  that  more  than  ninety  per  cent  of  its  two 
hundred  thousand  people  are  of  African  descent.  For 
over  two  centuries  Bahia  monopolized  the  slave 
trade  of  Brazil.  Her  traders  continued  to  be  the 
chief  importers  of  negroes  down  to  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  It  is  said  that  as  many 
as  sixty  thousand  slaves  were  brought  in  within  a 
single  year. 

We  took  one  of  the  American-made  trolleys  and 
soon  went  whizzing  along  through  well-paved  streets 
and  out  into  the  suburbs.  Here  villas,  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made,  like  the  baker's  best  wedding 
cake  in  his  shop  window,  attest  to  the  local  fondness 
for  rococo  extravagance.    In  general,  however,  the 


14  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA' 

principal  buildings  appear  to  be  well  built,  and  are 
frequently  four  or  five  stories  in  height. 

The  architecture  of  Bahia  is  decidedly  Portuguese, 
much  more  so  than  that  of  Pernambuco,  which  still 
bears  traces  of  its  Dutch  origin  and  even  reminds 
one  of  Curacao.  Some  of  the  villas  in  Bahia  are 
strikingly  like  those  in  Lisbon.  And  there  are  other 
likenesses  between  the  Portuguese  capital  and  this 
ecclesiastical  metropolis  of  Brazil.  Both  are  situ- 
ated on  magnificent  estuaries,  and  present  a  fine 
spectacle  to  the  traveller  coming  by  sea.  Both  have 
upper  and  lower  towns,  with  hills  so  steep  as  to  re- 
quire the  services  of  elevators  and  cog  or  cable  rail- 
ways to  connect  them.  The  upper  town  of  each 
commands  an  extensive  view  of  the  shipping,  the 
roadstead,  and  the  surrounding  country.  But  here 
the  similarity  ends;  for  Lisbon  is  built  on  several 
hills,  while  Bahia  occupies  but  a  single  headland, 
the  verdure-clad  promontory  which  shelters  the 
magnificent  bay. 

Bahia  is  the  centre  for  a  considerable  commerce 
in  sugar  and  cotton,  cocoa  and  tobacco.  These  are 
brought  to  the  port  by  land  and  water,  but  chiefly 
by  the  railroads  that  go  north  to  the  great  river 
San  Francisco  and  west  into  the  heart  of  the  state. 
There  are  many  evidences  of  wealth  in  the  city,  and 
there  is  certainly  an  excellent  opportunity  for  de- 
veloping foreign  trade.  One  looks  in  vain,  however, 
for  great  American  commercial  houses  like  those 
which  mark  the  presence  of  English,  French,  and 
German  enterprise.  Nevertheless  the  electric  car 
line,  with  its  American  equipment,  gives  a  promise  of 


PERNAMBUCO  AND   BAHIA  15 

things  hoped  for.  And  there  is  a  decided  air  of  friend- 
Hness  toward  Americans  on  the  part  of  the  Brazil- 
ians whom  one  meets  on  the  streets  and  in  the  shops. 
There  is  none  of  that  "chip  on  the  shoulder"  atti- 
tude which  the  Argentino  likes  to  exhibit  toward  the 
citizens  of  the  **  United  States  of  North  America." 
The  Brazilian  appears  to  realize  that  Americans  are 
his  best  customers,  and  he  is  desirous  of  maintaining 
the  most  friendly  relations  with  us. 


CHAPTER   II 

RIO,   SANTOS,   AND   BRAZILIAN  TRADE 

/rr^wo  days'  sail  from  Bahia  brought  us  within 
A.  sight  of  the  wonderful  mountains  that  mark 
the  entrance  to  the  Bay  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  As  one 
approaches  land,  the  first  thing  that  catches  the  eye 
is  the  far-famed  Sugar  Loaf  Mountain  which  seems 
to  guard  the  southern  side  of  the  entrance.  Back  of 
it  is  a  region  even  more  romantic,  a  cluster  of  higher 
mountains,  green  to  their  tops,  yet  with  sides  so 
precipitous  and  pinnacles  so  sharp  one  wonders  how 
anything  can  grow  on  them.  The  region  presents,  in 
fact,  such  a  prodigious  variety  of  crags  and  preci- 
pices, peaks  and  summits,  that  the  separate  forms 
are  lost  in  a  chaos  of  beautiful  hills. 

The  great  granite  rocks  that  guard  the  entrance 
to  the  harbor  leave  a  passage  scarcely  a  mile  in 
width.  At  the  base  of  the  Sugar  Loaf  we  saw  a  fairy 
white  city  romantically  nestling  in  the  shadow  of  the 
gigantic  crag.  It  is  the  new  National  Exposition  of 
Brazil. 

Once  safely  inside  the  granite  barriers,  the  bay 
opens  out  and  becomes  an  inland  sea,  dotted  with 
hundreds  of  islands,  a  landlocked  basin  with  fifty 
square  miles  of  deep  water. 

On  the  northern  shores  of  the  bay  lies  the  town  of 
Nictheroy,  the  capital  of  the  state.    Its  name  per- 


RIO,  SANTOS,   BRAZILIAN  TRADE    17 

petuates  the  old  Indian  title  of  the  bay,  "hidden 
water."  The  name  of  the  capital  of  the  RepubHc,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  bay,  carries  with  it  a  remem- 
brance of  the  fact  that  when  first  discovered,  the  bay 
was  mistaken  for  the  mouth  of  a  great  river,  the 
River  of  January. 

Since  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Rio 
has  been  conspicuous  in  the  annals  of  discovery  and 
conquest.  Magellan  touched  here  on  his  famous 
voyage  round  the  world.  The  spot  where  he  landed 
is  now  the  site  of  a  large  hospital  and  medical  school. 
French  Huguenots  attempted  to  find  here  a  refuge 
in  the  time  of  the  great  Admiral  Coligny.  As  one 
steams  slowly  into  the  harbor,  one  passes  close  to 
the  historic  island  of  Villegagnon,  whose  romantic 
story  has  been  so  graphically  told  by  Parkman. 

Hither  came  the  King  of  Portugal,  flying  from  the 
wrath  of  Napoleon.  Here  lived  the  good  Emperor 
Dom  Pedro  II,  one  of  the  most  beneficent  monarchs 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  And  into  these  waters  are 
soon  to  come  Brazil's  new  Dreadnoughts,  about 
which  all  the  world  has  been  speculating,  and  which 
have  made  Argentina  almost  forget  the  necessities 
of  economic  development  in  her  anxiety  to  keep  up 
with  Brazil  in  the  way  of  armament. 

An  elaborate  system  of  new  docks,  that  has  been 
in  the  course  of  construction  for  a  long  time,  has  not 
been  completed  yet;  so  we  anchor  a  mile  or  more 
from  the  shore,  not  far  from  a  score  of  ocean  steam- 
ers and  half  a  hundred  sailing  vessels.  Before  the 
anchor  falls  we  are  surrounded  by  a  noisy  fleet  of 
steam  launches,  whose  whistles  keep  up  a  most  in- 


I8  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

fernal  tooting.  A  score  of  these  insistent  screamers 
attempt  to  get  alongside  of  our  companion-way  at 
the  same  time.  In  addition,  half  a  hundred  row- 
boats  attack  the  ladder  where  some  of  the  steerage 
passengers  are  trying  to  disembark. 

We  had  heard,  before  entering  the  port,  that  there 
were  several  hundred  cases  of  smallpox  here,  besides 
other  infectious  diseases.  Yet  this  did  not  prevent 
everybody  that  wanted  to,  and  could  afford  the 
slight  cost  of  transportation,  from  coming  out  from 
the  shore  and  boarding  our  vessel.  Such  a  chatter- 
ing, such  a  rustling  of  silk  skirts  and  a  fluttering  of 
feathers  on  enormous  hats,  such  ecstatic  greetings 
given  to  returning  citizens!  Such  ultra- Parisian 
fashions ! 

On  shore  we  found  the  marks  of  modern  Rio  — 
electric  cars,  fashionable  automobiles,  well-paved 
streets,  electric  lights,  and  comfortable  hotels  —  very 
much  in  evidence.  Were  it  not  for  the  blinding  sun- 
light that  fairly  puts  one's  eyes  out  in  the  middle  of 
the  day,  one  could  readily  forget  one's  whereabouts. 
To  be  sure,  if  you  go  to  look  for  it,  there  is  the  older 
part  of  the  city  which  still  needs  cleaning  up  accord- 
ing to  modern  ideas  of  sanitation.  But  if  you  are 
content  to  spend  your  time  in  the  fashionable  end 
of  the  town  or  speeding  along  the  fine  new  thorough- 
fares in  a  fast  motor  car,  it  is  easy  to  think  no  more 
of  Rio's  bad  record  as  an  unhealthy  port. 

The  city  of  Rio  is  spread  over  a  large  peninsula 
that  juts  out  from  the  south  into  the  waters  of  the 
great  bay.  Across  the  peninsula,  through  the  centre 
of  the  busiest  part  of  the  city,  the  Brazilians  have 


RIO,  SANTOS,   BRAZILIAN  TRADE    19 

recently  opened  a  broad  boulevard,  the  Avenida 
Central.  Fine  modern  business  blocks  have  sprung 
up  as  if  by  magic,  and  the  effect  is  most  resplendent. 
The  spacious  avenue  is  in  marked  contrast  with  the 
very  narrow  little  streets  that  cross  it.  One  of  them, 
the  Rua  Ouvidor,  the  meeting-place  of  the  wits  of 
Rio,  Is  in  many  ways  the  most  interesting  street  in 
Brazil.  Here  one  may  see  everybody  that  is  any- 
body in  Rio. 

At  one  end  of  the  Avenida  Central  is  Monroe 
Palace,  which  once  did  duty  at  an  International 
Exposition,  and  more  recently  was  the  meeting- 
place  of  the  third  Pan-American  Conference,  made 
notable  by  the  presence  of  Secretary  Root.  Beyond 
the  showy  palace  to  the  east  there  are  a  number 
of  little  bays,  semi-circular  indentations  in  the  shore, 
which  have  recently  been  lined  with  splendid  broad 
driveways,  where  one  may  enjoy  the  sea  breeze  and 
a  marvellous  view  over  the  inland  sea  to  the  moun- 
tains beyond. 

At  the  far  end  of  the  new  parkway  rises  the  ever- 
present  Sugar  Loaf,  at  whose  feet  are  the  buildings  of 
the  National  Exposition.  They  are  wonderfully  well 
situated,  lying  as  they  do  on  a  little  isthmus  wedged 
in  between  two  gigantic  rocks,  with  the  ocean  on 
one  side  and  the  beautiful  bay  on  the  other.  The 
buildings  themselves  are  not  particularly  remark- 
able, being  decorated  in  the  gorgeous  style  of  elabo- 
rate whiteness  that  one  is  accustomed  to  associate 
with  expositions. 

The  crowds  I  saw  there  were  composed  exclusively 
of  Brazilians,  most  of  whom  had  apparently  visited 


20  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  grounds  many  times  and  accepted  them  as  the 
fashionable  evening  rendezvous.  Each  of  the  states 
of  Brazil  had  a  building  of  its  own  in  which  to  ex- 
hibit its  products,  and  there  was  a  theatre,  a  "Fine 
Arts"  building,  a  Hall  of  Manufactures,  and  a  sad 
attempt  at  a  Midway.  An  entire  building  was  de- 
voted to  the  manufactures  and  exports  of  Portugal. 
All  other  buildings  were  devoted  to  the  states  or 
industries  of  Brazil,  making  the  prejudice  in  favor 
of  the  mother  country  all  the  more  noticeable. 

A  change  is  coming  over  the  foreign  commerce  of 
Rio.  Twenty  years  ago,  the  largest  importing  firms 
were  French  and  English.  Many  of  these  have 
practically  disappeared,  having  been  driven  out 
by  Portuguese,  Italian,  and  German  houses.  The 
marked  leaning  toward  goods  of  Portuguese  origin 
is  very  striking  and  naturally  difficult  to  combat. 

Brazil  has  recently  established  in  Paris  an  office 
for  promoting  the  country  and  aiding  its  economic 
expansion.  This  office  is  publishing  a  considerable 
literature,  mostly  in  French,  and  will  undoubtedly 
be  able  to  bring  about  an  increase  of  European 
commerce  and  that  immigration  which  Brazil  so 
much  needs.  The  completion  of  the  new  docks  will 
greatly  help  matters. 

But  besides  new  docks  Rio  needs  a  reformed  cus- 
toms service.  Every  one  is  agreed  that  the  most 
vexatious  thing  in  Rio  is  the  attitude  of  the  custom 
house  officials.  Either  because  they  are  poorly  paid 
or  else  simply  because  they  have  fallen  into  extremely 
bad  habits,  they  are  allowed  to  receive  tips  and  gra- 
tuities openly.   The  result  may  easily  be  imagined. 


THE   CORi 


I 


•ROM   RIO 


RIO,  SANTOS,   BRAZILIAN  TRADE    21 

A  few  days  after  my  arrival,  an  American  natural- 
ist, thoroughly  honest  but  of  a  rather  short  temper, 
was  treated  with  outrageous  discourtesy,  and  his 
personal  effects  strewn  unceremoniously  over  the 
dirty  floor  of  the  warehouse  by  angry  inspectors, 
simply  because  he  was  unwilling  to  bribe  them. 
There  was  no  question  as  to  his  having  any  duti- 
able goods. 

The  population  of  Rio  is  variously  estimated  at 
between  seven  and  eight  hundred  thousand,  but 
her  enthusiastic  citizens  frequently  exaggerate  this 
and  speak  in  an  offhand  way  of  her  having  a  mil- 
lion people.  They  are  naturally  reluctant  to  admit 
that  Rio  has  any  fewer  than  Buenos  Aires. 

The  suburbs  of  Rio  are  remarkably  attractive. 
On  the  great  bay,  dotted  with  its  beautiful  islands, 
are  various  resorts  that  take  advantage  of  the  natu- 
ral beauties  of  the  place,  and  cater  to  the  pleasure- 
loving  Brazilians.  From  various  ports  on  the  bay, 
railroads  radiate  in  all  possible  directions,  going 
north  into  the  heart  of  the  mining  region  and  west 
through  the  coffee  country  to  Sao  Paulo.  The  ter- 
minus of  a  little  scenic  railway  is  the  top  of  one 
of  the  highest  and  most  remarkable  of  the  near-by 
peaks,  the  Corcovado.  The  view  from  the  summit 
can  scarcely  be  surpassed  in  the  whole  world.  The 
intensely  blue  waters  of  the  bay,  the  bright  white 
sunlight  reflected  from  the  fleecy  cumulous  clouds 
so  typical  of  the  tropics,  the  verdure-clad  hills,  and 
the  white  city  spread  out  like  a  map  on  the  edge  of 
the  bay,  combine  to  make  a  marvellous  picture. 

No  account  of  Rio,  however  brief,  would  be  com- 


22  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

plete  without  some  reference  to  the  "Jornal  do 
Comercio,"  the  leading  newspaper  of  Brazil,  whose 
owner  and  editor,  Dr.  J.  C.  Rodriguez,  is  one  of  the 
most  influential  men  in  the  country.  In  addition 
to  guiding  public  opinion  through  his  powerful  and 
ably  edited  newspaper,  he  has  had  the  time  to  at- 
tend to  numerous  charities  and  to  the  collection 
of  a  most  remarkable  library  of  books  relating  to 
Brazil.  He  has  recently  taken  high  rank  as  a  bibliog- 
rapher by  publishing  a  much  sought  after  volume 
on  early  Braziliana,  basing  his  information  largely 
on  his  own  matchless  collection. 

Another  well-edited  paper  is  "O  Paiz,"  which 
like  the  "  Jornal  do  Comercio  "  has  its  own  handsome 
edifice  on  the  new  Avenida  Central.  A  subscription 
to  it  for  one  year  costs  "thirty  thousand  reis"  —  a 
trifle  over  nine  dollars !  As  in  the  case  of  other  South 
American  newspapers,  its  offices  are  far  more  luxu- 
rious and  elaborate  than  those  of  their  contempo- 
raries In  North  America.  These  southern  dailies 
give  considerable  space  to  foreign  cablegrams,  so 
much  more,  in  fact,  than  do  our  own  papers,  that 
it  almost  persuades  one  that  we  are  more  provincial 
than  our  neighbors. 

Santos,  the  greatest  coffee  port  In  the  world  and 
the  only  city  in  Brazil  having  adequate  docking 
facilities,  Is  a  day's  sail  from  Rio.  It  is  separated 
from  the  ocean  by  winding  sea-rivers  or  canals. 
The  marshes  and  flats  that  surround  It,  and  the 
bleaching  skeletons  of  sailing  vessels  that  one  sees 
here,  are  sufficient  reminders  of  the  terrible  epidemics 
that  have  been  the  scourge  of  Santos  in  the  past. 


RIO,  SANTOS,   BRAZILIAN  TRADE      23 

Stones  are  told  of  ships  that  came  here  for  coffee, 
whose  entire  crews  perished  of  yellow  fever  before 
the  cargo  could  be  taken  aboard,  leaving  the  vessel 
to  rot  at  her  moorings.  All  of  this  is  changed  now, 
and  the  port  is  as  healthy  as  could  be  expected. 

Yet  the  town  is  not  attractive.  It  lacks  the  pic- 
turesque ox-drays  of  Pernambuco  and  the  charming 
surroundings  of  Rio,  The  streets  are  badly  paved 
and  muddy;  the  clattering  mule-teams  that  bring 
the  bags  of  coffee  from  the  great  warehouses  to  the 
docks  are  just  like  thousands  of  others  in  our  own 
western  cities.  The  old-fashioned  tram-cars,  run- 
ning on  the  same  tracks  that  the  ramshackle  sub- 
urban trains  use,  are  dirty  but  not  interesting. 
Prices  in  the  shops  are  enormously  high.  In  fact, 
on  all  sides  there  is  too  much  evidence  of  the  up- 
setting influence  of  a  great  modern  commerce. 

A  long  line  of  steamers  lying  at  the  docks  taking 
on  coffee  is  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  place, 
and  a  booklet  that  has  recently  been  issued  to  ad- 
vertise the  resources  of  Brazil  bears  on  its  cover  a 
branch  of  the  coffee  tree,  loaded  with  red  berries, 
behind  which  is  the  photograph  of  a  great  ocean 
liner,  into  whose  steel  sides  marches  an  unending 
procession  of  stevedores  carrying  on  their  backs  sacks 
of  coffee.  It  not  only  emphasizes  Brazil's  greatest 
industry,  but  it  is  also  thoroughly  typical  of  Santos. 

Most  of  the  coffee  is  grown  in  the  mountains  to 
the  north,  and  comes  to  Santos  from  Sao  Paulo  on 
a  splendidly  equipped  British-built  railway.  The 
line  is  one  of  the  finest  in  South  America.  It  rises 
rapidly  through  a  beautiful  tropical  valley  by  a 


24  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

gradient  so  steep  as  to  necessitate  the  use  of  a  cable 
and  cogs  for  a  large  part  of  the  distance.  The  power- 
houses scattered  at  intervals  along  the  line  are 
models  of  cleanliness  and  mechanical  perfection. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  America  is  by  far 
the  greatest  consumer  of  Santos  coffee,  the  greater 
part  of  the  local  enterprises  are  in  British  hands. 
The  investment  of  British  capital  in  Brazil  Is  enor- 
mous. It  has  been  computed  that  it  amounts  to 
over  six  hundred  million  dollars.  Americans  do  not 
seem  yet  to  have  waked  up  to  the  possibilities  of 
Brazilian  commerce,  or  to  the  fact  that  the  ques- 
tion of  American  trade  with  Brazil  is  an  extremely 
important  one. 

It  Is  only  necessary  to  realize  that  the  territory 
of  Brazil  Is  larger  than  that  of  the  United  States, 
that  the  population  of  Brazil  is  greater  than  all  the 
rest  of  South  America  put  together,  and  that  Brazil's 
exports  exceed  her  imports  by  one  hundred  million 
dollars  annually,  to  understand  the  opportunity  for 
developing  our  foreign  trade. 

Brazil  produces  considerably  more  than  half  of 
the  world's  supply  of  coffee,  besides  enormous  quan- 
tities of  rubber.  The  possibilities  for  increased  pro- 
duction of  raw  material  are  almost  incalculable.  It 
is  just  the  sort  of  market  for  us.  Here  we  can  dis- 
pose of  our  manufactured  products  and  purchase 
what  will  not  grow  at  home. 

We  have  made  some  attempts  to  develop  the 
field,  even  though  our  knowledge  is  too  often  limited 
to  that  of  the  delightful  person  who  knew  Brazil 
was  "  the  place  where  the  nuts  come  from ! "  We  have 


THE    HAK   < 


SANTOS 


RIO,   SANTOS,   BRAZILIAN  TRADE    25 

little  conception  of  the  great  distances  that  separate 
the  important  cities  of  Brazil  and  of  the  dififtculties 
of  transportation. 

A  story  is  told  in  Rio  of  an  attempt  to  go  from 
Rio  to  Sao  Paulo  by  motor,  over  the  cart-road  that 
connects  the  two  largest  cities  in  the  Republic. 
The  trip  by  railway  takes  about  twelve  hours. 
The  automobile  excursion  took  three  weeks  of  most 
fearful  drudgery.  Needless  to  say,  the  cars  did  not 
come  back  by  their  own  power. 

It  is  more  difficult  for  a  merchant  in  one  of  the 
great  coast  cities  of  Central  Brazil  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  Amazon,  than  it  is  for  a  Chicago  merchant 
to  keep  in  touch  with  Australia. 

Furthermore,  to  one  who  tries  to  master  the  situa- 
tion, the  coinage  and  the  monetary  system  seem  at 
first  sight  to  present  an  insuperable  obstacle.  To 
have  a  bill  for  dinner  rendered  in  thousands  of  reis  is 
rather  confusing,  until  one  comes  to  regard  the  thou- 
sand ret  piece  as  equivalent  to  about  thirty  cents. 

Another  and  much  more  serious  difficulty  is  the 
poor  mail  service  to  and  from  New  York.  To  the 
traveller  in  South  America,  unquestionably  the  most 
exasperating  annoyance  everywhere  is  the  insecurity 
and  irregularity  of  the  mails.  The  Latin-American 
mind  seems  to  be  more  differently  constituted  from 
ours  in  that  particular  than  in  any  other.  He  knows 
that  the  service  is  bad,  slow,  and  unreliable.  But 
it  seems  to  make  little  difference  to  him,  and  the 
only  effort  he  makes  to  overcome  the  frightfully  un- 
satisfactory conditions  is  by  resorting  to  the  regis- 
tered mail,  to  which  he  intrusts  everything  that  is 


26  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  importance.  Add  to  this  fact  the  infrequency  of 
direct  mail  steamers  from  the  United  States  to  the 
East  Coast,  and  it  may  readily  be  seen  where  lies 
one  of  the  most  serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of  ex- 
tending our  commerce  with  Brazil, 

A  marked  peculiarity  of  the  Brazilian  market  is 
its  extreme  conservatism.  Brazilians  who  have  be- 
come accustomed  to  buying  French,  English,  and 
German  products  are  loath  to  change.  American 
products  are  unfashionable.  The  Brazilian  who  can 
afford  it  travels  on  the  luxuriously  appointed 
steamers  of  the  Royal  Mail,  and  he  and  his  friends 
regard  articles  of  English  make  as  much  more  fash- 
ionable and  luxurious  than  those  from  the  United 
States. 

This  is  largely  due  to  the  lack  of  commercial 
prestige  which  we  enjoy  in  the  coast  cities  of  Brazil. 
The  Brazilians  cannot  understand  why  they  see 
no  American  banks  and  no  American  steamship 
lines.  Our  flag  never  appears  in  their  ports  except 
as  it  is  carried  by  a  man-of-war  or  an  antiquated 
wooden  sailing  vessel.  To  their  minds  this  is  proof 
conclusive  that  the  American,  who  claims  that  his 
country  is  one  of  the  most  important  commercial 
nations  in  the  world,  is  merely  bluffing. 

Such  prejudices  can  only  be  overcome  by  strict 
attention  to  business,  and  this  attention  our  export- 
ers have  in  large  measure  not  yet  thought  it  worth 
while  to  give.  The  agents  that  they  send  to  Brazil 
rarely  speak  Portuguese,  and  are  unable  to  com- 
pete with  the  expert  linguists  who  come  out  from 
Europe.   Frequently  they  even  lack  that  technical 


RIO,  SANTOS,   BRAZILIAN  TRADE    27 

training  In  the  manufacture  of  the  goods  which 
they  are  trying  to  sell,  which  gives  their  German 
competitors  so  great  an  advantage. 

Still  more  important  than  commercial  travellers 
In  a  country  like  Brazil,  is  the  establishment  of 
agencies  where  goods  may  be  attractively  displayed. 
An  active  importer  told  me  that,  in  his  opinion, 
the  most  essential  thing  for  Americans  to  do  was  to 
maintain  permanent  depots  or  expositions  where 
their  goods  could  be  seen  and  handled.  Relatively 
little  good  seems  to  result  from  the  use  of  catalogues, 
even  when  printed  in  the  language  of  the  country, 
owing  to  the  insecurity  of  the  mails  and  the  absence 
of  American  banks  or  express  companies  which 
would  Insure  the  delivery  of  goods  ordered. 

Finally,  it  is  disgraceful  to  be  obliged  to  repeat 
the  old  story  of  American  methods  of  packing  goods 
for  shipment  to  South  America.  This  fact  has  been 
so  often  alluded  to  in  many  different  publications 
that  it  might  seem  as  though  further  criticism  were 
unnecessary.  Unfortunately,  however,  In  spite  of  re- 
peated protests,  American  shippers,  forgetful  of  the 
almost  entire  absence  of  docks  and  docking  facilities 
here,  continue  to  pack  their  goods  as  If  they  were 
destined  for  Europe. 

At  most  of  the  ports,  lighters  have  to  be  used. 
These  resemble  small  coal  barges,  Into  which  the 
goods  are  lowered  over  the  side  of  the  vessel.  Often 
more  or  less  of  a  sea  is  running,  and  notwithstanding 
all  the  care  that  may  be  used  the  durability  of  the 
packing-cases  Is  tested  to  the  utmost.  I  saw  a  box 
containing  a  typewriter  dumped  on  top  of  a  pile 


28  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  miscellaneous  merchandise,  from  which  it  rolled 
down,  bumping  and  thumping  into  the  farther  corner 
of  the  barge.  Fortunately,  this  particular  typewriter 
belonged  to  a  make  of  American  machines  whose 
manufacturers  have  learned  to  pack  their  goods  in 
such  form  as  to  stand  just  that  kind  of  treatment. 
The  result  is  that  one  sees  that  brand  of  machine 
all  over  South  America. 

The  American  consul  in  Rio,  Mr.  Anderson,  has 
been  doing  a  notable  service  in  recent  years  by 
sending  north  full  and  accurate  reports  of  business 
conditions  in  Brazil,  and  our  special  agent,  Mr. 
Lincoln  Hutchinson,  has  written  excellent  reports  on 
trade  conditions  in  South  America.  To  the  labors 
of  both  these  gentlemen  I  am  greatly  indebted  for 
information  on  this  subject. 


CHAPTER  III 

BUENOS  AIRES 

WE  left  Santos  late  on  a  Tuesday  afternoon, 
and  after  two  pleasant  days  at  sea  entered 
the  harbor  of  Montevideo  on  Friday  morning.  It 
was  crowded  with  ships  of  all  nations,  and  we  were 
particularly  delighted  to  see  the  American  flag 
flying  from  three  small  steamers.  Could  it  be  pos- 
sible that  the  flag  which  had  been  so  conspicuous 
for  its  absence  from  South  American  waters,  was 
regaining  in  the  twentieth  century  the  preeminence 
it  had  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth?  Alas,  no; 
the  boats  were  only  government  vessels  in  the  light- 
house service,  towing  lightships  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  coast.  They  had  stopped  here  to  coal, 
for  Montevideo  is  a  favorite  port  of  call  for  steamers 
bound  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  Ever  since 
the  days  when  it  was  the  home  of  active  smugglers, 
who  were  engaged  in  defying  Spain's  restrictive 
colonial  policy,  Montevideo  has  been  a  prosperous 
trading  centre.  To-day,  clean  streets,  new  build- 
ings, electric  cars,  fine  shops,  elaborate  window  dis- 
plays, well-dressed  people,  and  excellent  hotels  mark 
it  as  modern  and  comfortable. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  this  is  the  capital  of 
Uruguay,  "one  of  the  most  tumultuous  of  the  smaller 
revolutionary  states  of  South  America."  The  Amer- 


30  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ican  is  chagrined  to  find  that  the  Uruguayan  gold 
or  paper  dollar  is  worth  two  cents  more  than  our 
own.  And  the  Englishman  is  most  annoyed  to  find 
the  "sovereign"  at  a  discount.  But  chagrin  gives 
way  to  frank  amazement  at  the  high  prices  which 
the  Montevidean  is  willing  to  pay  for  his  imported 
luxuries. 

The  republic  is  small  but  there  is  no  waste  land, 
and  the  railroads  bring  in  quantities  of  wool  and 
food-stuffs  destined  for  the  European  market.  More 
than  three  thousand  steamers  enter  the  port  an- 
nually. Most  of  them  belong  to  the  eighteen  Brit- 
ish lines  that  touch  here.  No  wonder  the  city  is 
wealthy  and  has  attractive  shops  and  boulevards. 
To  be  sure,  the  harbor  improvements,  not  completed 
yet,  have  been  greatly  retarded  by  the  most  flagrant 
kind  of  political  graft.  But  what  American  city, 
from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  has  a  clean 
record  in  this  particular? 

Splendidly  equipped  steamers,  resembling  our 
Fall  River  boats,  ply  nightly  between  Montevideo 
and  Buenos  Aires,  in  order  to  accommodate  the  in- 
creasing numbers  who  wish  to  do  business  in  both 
cities. 

A  generation  ago  the  traveller  to  Buenos  Aires 
was  obliged  to  disembark  in  the  stream  seven  or 
eight  miles  from  the  city,  proceed  in  small  boats 
over  the  shallow  waters,  and  then  clamber  into  huge 
ox-carts  and  enjoy  the  last  mile  or  two  of  his  jour- 
ney as  best  he  could.  Since  then,  extraordinary  har- 
bor improvements,  costing  millions  of  dollars,  have 
been  completed,  and  ocean  steamers  are  now  able 


i 


BUENOS  AIRES  31 

to  approach  the  city  through  dredged  channels. 
Yet  such  has  been  the  phenomenal  growth  of  the 
port  that  the  magnificent  modern  docks  are  al- 
ready overcrowded  and  the  handling  of  cargo  goes 
on  very  slowly,  retarded  by  many  exasperating  de- 
lays. The  regular  passenger  and  mail  steamers  are 
given  prompt  attention,  however,  and  the  customs 
house  examination  is  both  speedy  and  courteous,  in 
marked  contrast  to  that  at  Rio.  In  years  to  come, 
the  two  other  important  ports  of  Argentina  —  Rosa- 
rio,  higher  up  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  Bahia  Blanca, 
farther  down  the  Atlantic  coast  —  are  destined  to 
grow  at  a  rapid  rate  because  of  the  better  docking 
facilities  they  will  be  able  to  afford.  r 

•  Bahia  Blanca  in  particular  is  destined  to  have  a 
great  future,  as  it  is  the  natural  outlet  for  the  rapidly 
developing  agricultural  and  pastoral  region  of  south- 
ern Argentina. 

Buenos  Aires,  however,  will  always  maintain  her 
political  and  commercial  supremacy.  She  is  not 
only  the  capital  of  Argentina,  but  out  of  every  five 
Argentinos,  she  claims  at  least  one  as  a  denizen  of 
her  narrow  streets.  Already  ranking  as  the  second 
Latin  city  in  the  world,  her  population  equals  that 
of  Madrid  and  Barcelona  combined. 

Hardly  has  one  left  the  docks  on  the  way  to  the 
hotel  before  one  is  impressed  with  the  commercial 
power  of  this  great  city.  Your  taidcah  passes  slowly 
through  crowded  streets  where  the  heavy  trafhc  re- 
tards your  progress  and  gives  you  a  chance  to  marvel 
at  the  great  number  of  foreign  banks,  English,  Ger- 
man,  French,  and   Italian,  that  have  taken  pos- 


32  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

session  of  this  quarter  of  the  city.  With  their  fine 
substantial  buildings  and  their  general  appearance 
of  solidity,  they  have  a  firm  grip  on  the  situation. 
One  looks  in  vain  for  an  American  bank  or  agency 
of  any  well-known  Wall  Street  house.  American 
financial  institutions  are  like  the  American  mer- 
chant steamers,  conspicuous  by  their  absence.  The 
Anglo-Saxons  that  you  see  briskly  walking  along 
the  sidewalks  are  not  Americans,  but  clean-shaven, 
red-cheeked,  vigorous  Britishers. 

In  England  they  talk  familiarly  of  "B.A."  and 
the  "River  Plate";  disdaining  to  use  the  Spanish 
words  Argentina,  Uruguay,  Paraguay,  and  Buenos 
Aires.  To  hear  them  you  might  suppose  they  were 
speaking  of  something  they  owned,  and  you  would 
not  be  so  very  far  from  the  truth.  What  Mexico  owes 
to  American  capital  and  enterprise,  the  countries 
and  cities  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  owe  to  Great  Britain. 
British  capitalists  have  not  been  slow  to  realize 
the  possibilities  of  this  great  agricultural  region. 
They  know  its  potentiality  as  a  food-producer,  and 
they  have  covered  it  with  a  network  of  railways 
much  as  we  have  covered  the  prairies  of  Illinois  and 
the  plains  of  Kansas.  Of  the  billion  and  a  quarter 
dollars  of  British  capital  invested  in  Argentina, 
over  seven  hundred  millions  are  in  railways.  Thou- 
sands of  active,  energetic  young  Englishmen,  backed 
by  this  enormous  British  capital,  have  aided  in  the 
extraordinary  progress  which  Argentina  has  made 
during  the  past  generation. 

In  some  ways  this  is  an  English  colony.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  people  do  not  speak  English,  except  in 


BUENOS  AIRES  33 

the  commercial  district,  and  the  Englishman  is  here 
on  sufferance.  But  it  is  his  railroads  that  tie  this 
country  together.  It  is  his  enterprises  that  have 
opened  thousands  of  its  square  miles,  and  although 
the  folly  of  his  ancestors  a  century  ago  caused  him 
to  lose  the  political  control  of  this  "purple  land," 
the  energy  of  his  more  recent  forebears  has  given 
him  a  splendid  heritage.  Not  only  has  he  been  able 
to  pay  large  dividends  to  the  British  stockholders 
who  had  such  great  faith  in  the  future  of  Argentina, 
he  has  made  many  native  Argentinos  wealthy 
beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice. 

Land-owners,  whose  parents  had  not  a  single 
change  of  clothes,  are  themselves  considering  how 
many  motor  cars  to  order.  Their  patronage  sus- 
tains the  finely  appointed  shops  which  make  such 
a  brave  display  on  Florida  and  Cangallo  Streets. 
These  streets  may  be  so  narrow  that  vehicles  are 
only  allowed  to  pass  in  one  direction,  but  the  shops 
are  first  class  in  every  particular  and  include  the 
greatest  variety  of  goods,  from  the  latest  creations 
of  Parisian  millinery  to  the  most  modern  scientific 
instruments.  Fine  book  shops,  large  department 
stores,  gorgeous  restaurants,  expensive  to  the  last 
degree,  emphasize  the  wealth  and  extravagance  of 
the  upper  classes. 

On  the  streets  one  may  hear  all  of  the  European 
languages.  In  the  business  district  it  is  quite  as 
likely  to  be  English  as  Spanish,  and  in  the  poorer 
quarters  Italian  is  growing  more  common  every 
day.  The  speech  of  the  common  people  is  nominally 
Spanish,  very  bad  Spanish.   In  reality  it  is  a  hybrid 


34  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

into  which  Portuguese,  Italian,  and  Indian  words 
and  accents  have  entered  to  disfigure  the  beautiful 
Castilian. 

When  Rio  cut  her  Avenida  Central  through  the 
middle  of  her  business  district,  she  had  in  mind  the 
Avenida  25  de  Mayo  of  Buenos  Aires,  a  typical 
imitation  Parisian  Boulevard  that  was  opened  not 
many  years  ago  to  facilitate  traffic  and  beautify  the 
city.  On  the  Avenida,  as  in  Rio,  the  leading  news- 
paper has  its  luxurious  home. 

All  the  world  has  heard  of  "La  Prensa"  and  its 
marvellously  well-appointed  building  where  dis- 
tinguished foreigners  are  entertained,  lectures  are 
given,  and  all  sorts  of  advertising  dodges  are  fea- 
tured. It  was  "La  Prensa"  that  had  the  news  of 
President  Taft's  election  two  minutes  after  it  was 
known  in  New  York.  Many  Portenos,  as  the  people 
of  Buenos  Aires  are  called,  think  the  columns  of 
"La  Prensa"  are  too  yellow  and  that  its  business 
methods  are  almost  too  modern.  They  prefer  the 
more  dignified  pages  of  the  "Nacion." 

The  hotels  on  the  Avenida  are  not  up  to  the 
standard  of  three  of  those  on  the  narrower  thorough- 
fares. In  fact,  it  would  be  hard  to  find  more  com- 
fortable hostelries  than  the  Grand  or  the  Palace. 
The  new  Phoenix  Hotel,  one  of  the  first  skyscrapers 
to  be  erected  here,  promises  even  greater  comforts 
and  is  to  be  the  rendezvous  of  the  British  colony. 

There  are  many  theatres  and  they  have  a  bril- 
liant season,  which  begins  in  June.  The  pleasure- 
loving  Porteilos  are  willing  to  pay  very  high  prices 
for  the  best  seats,  and  managers  can  offer  good 


BUENOS  AIRES  35 

salaries  to  tempt  the  best  performers  to  leave  Eu- 
rope. Variety  shows  are  popular  and  carried  to  an 
extreme  with  which  we  are  not  familiar  in  the  United 
States.  Some  of  them  are  poor  copies  of  question- 
able Parisian  enterprises.  But  even  these  are  not 
as  bad  as  the  moving  picture  shows  that  have  cap- 
tured Buenos  Aires.  Public  opinion  is  astonishingly 
lax  in  the  southern  capital.  Exhibitions  of  shocking 
indecency  are  countenanced,  that  would  no  longer 
be  tolerated  in  Europe  or  North  America.  In  this 
matter  Buenos  Aires  also  offers  a  marked  contrast 
to  Santiago  de  Chile  where  morals  are  on  a  much 
higher  plane,  thanks  to  the  Catholic  Church,  which 
unfortunately  seems  to  have  lost  its  grip  here. 

The  Porteiio  has  not  only  forgotten  his  religion, 
he  seems  also  to  have  lost  the  pleasing  manners  of 
his  Castilian  ancestors.  I  have  been  in  eight  South 
American  capitals  and  in  none  have  I  seen  such 
bad  manners  as  in  Buenos  Aires.  Nowhere  else  in 
South  America  is  one  jostled  so  rudely.  Nowhere 
else  does  one  see  such  insolent  behavior  and  such 
bad  taste.  Santiago,  Lima,  Bogota,  and  Caracas 
seem  to  belong  to  a  different  civilization.  To  be 
sure,  none  of  them  are  as  rich  and  prosperous.  But 
in  all  of  them  good  society  is  a  much  more  ancient 
concern  than  in  this  overgrown  young  metropolis. 

Here  the  newly  rich  are  in  full  sway  and  their 
ideas  and  instincts  seem  to  predominate.  On  Sun- 
day afternoon,  all  the  world  dashes  madly  out  to 
the  race  course,  where  it  exercises  its  passion  for 
gambling  to  the  fullest  capacity.  In  the  Jockey  Club 
inclosure  are  gathered  the  youth  and  beauty,  the 


36  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

wealth  and  fashion  of  the  city.  And  yet  the  ladies 
carry  the  artificial  tricks  of  feminine  adornment  to 
such  an  amazing  extent  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  realize  that  they  belong  to  the  fashionable  world 
and  not  to  the  demi-monde.  The  races  that  I  at- 
tended drew  an  audience  of  thirty  thousand.  One 
race  had  a  first  prize  amounting  to  fifteen  thousand 
dollars.  The  horses  seemed  to  be  of  a  rather  heavier 
build  than  ours  but  they  did  not  interest  the  spec- 
tators. Facilities  for  betting  were  provided  on  an 
elaborate  scale.  There  were  no  bookmakers,  and 
the  odds  depended  entirely  on  the  popular  choice, 
as  is  commonly  done  in  Europe.  The  gate  receipts 
and  the  proceeds  of  the  "percentage"  are  enormous 
and  have  enabled  the  Jockey  Club  to  build  one  of 
the  most  luxurious  and  extravagant  club  houses  in 
the  world. 

After  the  races,  hundreds  of  motor  cars  and  car- 
riages promenade  slowly  up  and  down  that  part  of 
the  parkway  which  society  has  decreed  shall  be  her 
rendezvous.  Here  one  sees  an  astonishing  display 
of  paint  and  powder  illuminating  the  faces  of  the 
devotees  of  a  fashion  which  decrees  that  all  ladies 
must  have  brilliant  complexions.  The  effect  is 
very  unpleasant.  I  suppose  it  Is  simply  another 
evidence  of  the  newness  of  modern  Buenos  Aires. 
Very  few  wealthy  families  have  a  long-established 
social  position.  Culture  and  refinement  are  at  a 
discount.  Otherwise  it  is  difficult  to  Imagine  how 
any  society  can  tolerate  such  artificiality.  This 
garish  Sunday  parade  Is  quite  a  swing  of  the  pen- 
dulum from  the  old  days  when  Creole  ladies,  mod- 


BUENOS  AIRES  37 

estly  attired  in  lovely  black  lace  mantillas,  walked 
quietly  to  church  and  home  again,  as  they  still  do  in 
most  South  American  cities. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  speak  of  the  more  usual 
evidences  of  great  wealth,  palatial  residences  that 
would  attract  attention  even  in  Paris  and  New  York, 
charming  parks  beautifully  laid  out  on  the  shores 
of  the  great  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  a  thousand  luxu- 
rious automobiles  of  the  latest  pattern  carrying  all 
they  can  hold  of  Parisian  millinery. 

One  does  not  need  to  be  told  that  this  is  a  city 
of  electric  cars,  telephones,  and  taxis.  These  we  take 
for  granted.  But  there  is  a  characteristic  feature 
of  the  city  that  is  unexpected  and  striking:  the 
central  depots  for  imported  thoroughbreds.  Only 
a  few  doors  from  the  great  banks  and  railway  offices 
are  huge  stables  where  magnificent  blooded  horses 
and  cattle,  sheep  and  pigs,  which  have  brought  re- 
cords of  distinguished  ancestry  across  the  Atlantic, 
are  offered  for  sale  and  command  high  prices. 

These  permanent  cattle-shows  are  the  natural 
rendezvous  of  the  wealthy  ranchmen  and  breeders 
who  are  sure  to  be  found  here  during  a  part  of  each 
day  while  they  are  in  town.  So  are  foreigners  de- 
sirous of  purchasing  ranches  and  reporters  getting 
news  from  the  interior.  The  cattle-fairs  offer  ocular 
evidence  of  the  wealth  of  the  modern  Argentine 
and  the  importance  of  the  pastoral  industry.  There 
are  over  a  hundred  million  sheep  on  the  Pampas. 
Cattle  and  horses  also  are  counted  by  the  millions. 

The  problems  of  Argentine  agriculture  and  ani- 
mal industries  are  being  continually  studied  by  the 


38  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

great  land-owners,  who  have  already  done  much  to 
improve  the  quahty  of  their  products. 

During  my  stay  in  Buenos  Aires,  it  was  my  privi- 
lege to  visit  an  agricultural  school  in  one  of  the 
neighboring  towns.  The  occasion  was  the  celebra- 
tion of  its  twenty-fifth  anniversary.  The  festivities 
were  typically  Spanish- American.  An  avenue  of 
trees  was  christened  with  appropriate  ceremonies, 
being  given  the  name  of  the  anniversary  date.  To 
each  tree  a  bunch  of  fire-crackers  had  been  tied. 
At  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  avenue  a  new 
sign-post  bearing  its  name  had  been  put  up  and 
veiled  with  a  piece  of  cheese  cloth.  A  procession 
consisting  of  the  officials  of  the  school  and  of  the 
National  University  of  La  Plata,  with  which  the 
school  is  affiliated,  alumni  and  visitors,  formed  at 
the  school-buildings  after  the  reading  of  an  ap- 
propriate address,  and  marched  down  the  new 
avenue  following  the  band.  As  we  progressed,  the 
signs  were  unveiled  and  the  bunches  of  fire-crackers 
touched  off.  At  the  far  end,  in  a  grove  of  eucalyp- 
tus trees,  a  collation  was  served,  and  we  were  en- 
tertained by  having  the  fine  horses  and  cattle  be- 
longing to  the  school  paraded  up  and  down.  The 
school  has  an  extensive  property,  is  doing  good  work, 
and  shows  a  practical  grasp  of  the  needs  of  the  coun- 
try. ' 

Argentina  has  worked  hard  to  develop  those  in- 
dustries that  are  dependent  upon  stock-raising. 
The  results  have  amply  justified  her.  The  expor- 
tation of  frozen  meat  from  Argentina  amounts  to 
nearly  twenty  million  dollars  annually.    Only  re- 


BUENOS  AIRES  39 

cently  one  of  the  best  known  packing-houses  of 
Chicago  opened  a  large  plant  here  and  is  paying 
tribute  to  the  excellence  of  the  native  stock.  Every 
year  Argentina  sends  to  Europe  the  carcasses  of 
millions  of  sheep  and  cattle  as  well  as  millions  of 
bushels  of  wheat  and  corn,  more  in  fact  than  we  do. 
Of  all  the  South  American  republics,  she  is  our 
greatest  natural  competitor,  and  she  knows  it. 
Nevertheless,  she  lacks  adequate  resources  of  iron, 
coal,  lumber,  and  water  power,  and  notwithstanding 
a  high  protective  tariff,  can  never  hope  to  become  a 
competitor  in  manufactured  products.  Argentina 
exports  more  than  three  times  as  much  per  capita 
as  we  do,  and  must  do  so  in  order  to  pay  for  the 
necessary  importation  of  manufactured  goods.  It 
also  means  that  she  will  always  find  it  to  her  ad- 
vantage to  buy  her  goods  from  England,  France, 
and  Germany,  where  she  sells  her  food-stuffs.  Brazil 
can  send  us  unlimited  amounts  of  raw  materials 
that  we  cannot  raise  at  home,  while  at  present 
Argentina  has  little  to  offer  us.  Yet  we  are  already 
buying  her  wool  and  hides,  and  before  long  will 
undoubtedly  be  eating  her  beef  and  mutton,  as 
England  has  been  doing  for  years. 

The  banks  of  Buenos  Aires  have  learned  to  be 
extremely  conservative.  For  a  long  time  this  city 
was  a  favorite  resort  of  absconding  bank  cashiers 
from  the  United  States,  and  stories  are  told  of 
many  well-dressed  Americans  who  have  come  here 
from  time  to  time  without  letters  of  introduction 
but  with  plenty  of  money  to  spend,  who  have  been 
kindly  received  by  the  inhabitants,  only  to  prove 


40  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

to  be  undesirable  acquaintances.  What  we  con- 
sider "  old-fashioned  and  antiquated  "  English  bank 
methods  are  the  rule,  and  it  frequently  takes  a 
couple  of  hours  to  draw  money  on  a  letter  of  credit 
even  when  one  has  taken  the  pains  to  notify  one's 
bankers  beforehand  that  the  letter  was  to  be  used 
in  South  America.  Personally,  I  have  found  Ameri- 
can Express  checks  extremely  useful  in  all  parts  of 
South  America  and  have  had  no  difhculty  in  getting 
them  accepted  in  Buenos  Aires.  In  the  interior 
it  is  more  difficult  unless  one  comes  well  introduced. 
But  the  necessity  for  letters  of  introduction  is  quite 
generally  recognized  all  over  the  continent.  Strang- 
ers who  have  "neglected  to  supply  themselves  with 
credentials,"  frequently  turn  out  to  be  fugitives 
from  justice. 

Another  local  peculiarity  noticeable  also  in  Chile, 
is  that  many  of  the  citizens  bitterly  begrudge  us 
our  attempted  monopoly  of  the  title  of  "Ameri- 
cans." They  catalogue  us  at  all  possible  times  un- 
der "N"  instead  of  "A."  They  also  speak  of  us 
as  North  Americans  or  as  "Yankis, "  and  they  call 
our  Minister  the  "North  American  Minister," 
quite  ignoring  the  existence  of  Mexico  and  Canada. 

Certain  Americans  who  are  desirous  of  securing 
an  increase  of  our  trade  with  South  America  and  of 
placating  in  every  possible  manner  the  South  Amer- 
icans, overlooking  the  practical  side  of  the  question, 
have  acquiesced  in  the  local  prejudice  and  speak 
of  themselves  as  North  Americans,  even  though 
they  do  not  address  their  letters  to  the  "United 
States  of  North  America." 


BUENOS  AIRES  41 

The  fact  that  the  South  American  refuses  to  grant 
us  our  title  of  "Americans"  is  really  an  indirect 
compliment.  It  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  industry 
and  intelligence  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
that  the  word  "American"  has  come  to  have  a  com- 
plimentary meaning,  —  far  more  complimentary  in 
fact  than  it  had  fifty  years  ago  when  distinguished 
foreigners  were  wont  to  use  that  adjective  as  a 
peculiarly  opprobrious  epithet.  With  this  change 
in  the  significance  of  the  term  has  come  a  natural 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  South  Americans  to  apply 
it  to  themselves.  They  reason  that  they  have  as 
good  a  right,  geographically,  to  the  term  as  we  have, 
and  they  wilfully  forget  that  each  of  their  repub- 
lics has  in  its  legal  title  a  word  which  conveniently 
and  euphoniously  characterizes  its  citizens.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil  are  called 
Brazilians,  and  those  of  the  United  States  of  Mex- 
ico are  Mexicans  by  the  same  right  that  those 
of  the  United  States  of  America  are  Americans. 
To  be  sure,  the  world  generally  thinks  of  our  coun- 
try as  the  United  States,  quite  forgetful  that  there 
are  several  other  republics  of  the  same  name.  It 
is  a  pity  that  a  euphonious  appellation  cannot  be 
manufactured  from  one  or  both  of  those  two  words. 
We  cannot  distinguish  ourselves  by  the  title  "  North 
American,"  as  that  ignores  the  rightful  claim  to  that 
title  which  the  denizens  of  the  larger  part  of  this 
continent,  the  Mexicans  and  Canadians,  have  in 
common  with  us.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  we  are 
to  avoid  calling  ourselves  Americans  even  if  it 
gives  offence  to  our  neighbors.    It  is  not  a  point  of 


42  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

great  importance  and  it  seems  to  me  that  in  time, 
with  the  natural  growth  of  Chile  and  the  Argentine 
Republic,  their  citizens  will  be  so  proud  of  being 
called  Chilenos  or  Argentinos  that  they  will  not 
begrudge  us  our  only  convenient  and  proper  title. 

There  is  another  point,  however,  in  their  criti- 
cism of  us  which  is  more  reasonable  and  on  which 
they  might  be  accorded  more  satisfaction.  I  refer 
to  that  part  of  our  foreign  policy  known  as  the 
Monroe  Doctrine.  Many  a  Chileno  and  Argentine 
resents  the  idea  of  our  IVIonroe  Doctrine  applying 
in  any  sense  to  his  country  and  declares  that  we 
had  better  keep  it  at  home.  He  regards  it  as  only 
another  sign  of  our  overweening  national  conceit. 
And  on  mature  consideration,  it  does  seem  as  though 
the  justification  for  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  both  in 
its  original  and  its  present  form,  had  passed.  Eu- 
rope is  no  longer  ruled  by  despots  who  desire  to 
crush  the  liberties  of  their  subjects.  As  is  frequently 
remarked,  England  has  a  more  democratic  govern- 
ment than  the  United  States.  In  all  the  leading 
countries  of  Europe,  the  people  have  practically  as 
much  to  say  about  the  government  as  they  have  in 
America.  There  is  not  the  slightest  danger  that  any 
European  tyrant  will  attempt  to  enslave  the  weak 
republics  of  this  hemisphere.  Furthermore,  such 
republics  as  Mexico,  Argentina,  Brazil,  Chile,  and 
Peru  no  more  need  our  Monroe  Doctrine  to  keep 
them  from  being  robbed  of  their  territory  by  Euro- 
pean nations  than  does  Italy  or  Spain.  If  it  be  true 
that  some  of  the  others,  like  the  notoriously  lawless 
group  in  Central  America,  need  to  be  looked  after 


BUENOS  AIRES  43 

by  their  neighbors,  let  us  amend  our  outgrown 
Monroe  Doctrine,  as  has  already  been  suggested 
by  one  of  our  writers  on  international  law,  so  as  to 
include  in  the  police  force  of  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere, those  who  have  shown  themselves  able  to 
practice  self-control.  With  our  lynchings,  strikes, 
and  riots,  we  shall  have  to  be  very  careful,  however, 
not  to  make  the  conditions  too  severe  or  we  shall 
ourselves  fail  to  qualify. 

The  number  of  "North  Americans"  in  Buenos 
Aires  is  very  small.  While  we  have  been  slowly 
waking  up  to  the  fact  that  South  America  is  some- 
thing more  than  "a  land  of  revolutions  and  fevers," 
our  German  cousins  have  entered  the  field  on  all 
sides. 

The  Germans  in  southern  Brazil  are  a  negligible 
factor  in  international  affairs.  But  the  well-edu- 
cated young  German  who  is  being  sent  out  to  cap- 
ture South  America  commercially,  is  a  power  to 
be  reckoned  with.  He  is  going  to  damage  England 
more  truly  than  Dreadnoughts  or  gigantic  airships. 
He  is  worth  our  study  as  well  as  England's. 

Willing  to  acquaint  himself  with  and  adapt  him- 
self to  local  prejudices,  he  has  already  made  great 
strides  in  securing  South  American  commerce  for 
his  Fatherland.  He  has  become  a  more  useful 
member  of  the  community  than  the  Englishman. 
He  has  taken  pains  to  learn  the  language  thoroughly, 
and  speak  it  not  only  grammatically  but  idio- 
matically as  well;  something  which  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  almost  never  does.  He  has  entered  into  the 
social  life  of  the  country  with  a  much  more  gracious 


44 


ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 


spirit  than  his  competitors  and  rarely  segregates  him- 
self from  the  community  in  pursuing  his  pleasures 
as  the  English  do.  His  natural  prejudices  against 
the  Spanish  way  of  doing  things  are  not  so  strong. 

His  steamers  are  just  as  luxurious  and  comfort- 
able as  the  new  English  boats.  It  is  said  that  even 
if  the  element  of  danger  that  always  exists  at  sea 
is  less  on  the  British  lines,  the  German  boats  treat 
their  passengers  with  more  consideration,  giving 
them  better  food  and  better  service.  No  wonder 
the  Spanish-American  likes  the  German  better 
than  he  does  the  English  or  American.  Already  the 
English  residents  in  Buenos  Aires,  who  have  re- 
garded the  River  Plate  as  their  peculiar  province 
for  many  years,  are  galled  beyond  measure  to  see 
what  strides  the  Germans  have  made  in  capturing 
the  market  for  their  manufactured  products  and  in 
threatening  their  commercial  supremacy.  And 
neither  English  nor  Germans  are  going  to  hold  out 
a  helping  hand  or  welcome  an  American  commercial 
invasion. 

Meanwhile  the  Argentinos  realize  that  their 
country  cannot  get  along  without  foreign  capital, 
much  as  they  hate  to  see  the  foreigner  made  rich 
from  the  products  of  their  rolling  prairies. 

Politically,  Buenos  Aires  and  Argentina  are  in 
the  control  of  the  native  born.  They  have  a  natural 
aptitude  for  playing  politics,  and  they  much  prefer 
it  to  the  more  serious  world  of  business.  This  they 
are  quite  willing  to  leave  to  the  foreigner. 

They  realize  also  that  they  greatly  need  more 
immigrants.  The  population  is  barely  five  per  square 


BUENOS  AIRES  45 

mile,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  practically  much 
less  than  that  for  so  large  a  part  of  the  entire  popu- 
lation is  crowded  into  the  city  and  province  of 
Buenos  Aires.  Consequently  they  are  doing  all  they 
can  to  encourage  able-bodied  immigrants  to  come 
from  Italy  and  Spain. 

And  the  immigrants  are  coming.  My  ship  brought 
a  thousand.  Other  ships  brought  more  than  three 
hundred  thousand  in  1908.  Argentina  is  not  stand- 
ing still.  Nor  is  she  waiting  for  "American  enter- 
prise." During  1908  considerably  more  than  two 
thousands  vessels  entered  the  ports  of  the  republic. 
Four  flew  the  American  flag. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ARGENTINE  INDEPENDENCE   AND   SPANISH- 
AMERICAN    SOLIDARITY 

ON  the  25th  of  May,  19 10,  the  Argentine  nation 
in  general,  and  Buenos  Aires  in  particular, 
observed  with  appropriate  ceremonies  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  their  independence.  Great 
preparations  were  made  to  insure  a  celebration  that 
should  suitably  represent  the  importance  of  the 
event. 

In  1 8 10  Buenos  Aires  had  been  a  Spanish  colony 
for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  following  her  foun- 
dation in  the  sixteenth  century.  But  the  Spanish 
crown  had  never  valued  highly  the  great  rolling 
prairies  drained  by  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  There  were 
no  mines  of  gold  or  silver  here,  and  Spain  did  not 
send  her  colonists  into  far-away  America  to  raise 
corn  and  wine  that  should  compete  with  Spanish 
farmers  at  home.  Buenos  Aires  was  regarded  as  the 
end  of  the  world.  All  persons  and  all  legitimate  com- 
merce bound  thither  from  Spain  were  obliged  to  go 
by  way  of  Panama  and  Peru,  over  the  Andes,  across 
the  South  American  continent,  before  they  could 
legally  enter  the  port  of  Buenos  Aires.  The  natural 
result  of  this  was  the  building  up  of  a  prosperous 
colony  of  Portuguese  smugglers  in  southern  Brazil. 
Another  result  was  that  no  Spaniards  cared  to  live 


ARGENTINE   INDEPENDENCE        47 

so  far  away  from  home  if  they  could  possibly  help 
it,  and  society  in  Buenos  Aires  was  not  nearly  so 
brilliant  as  in  the  fashionable  Spanish-American 
capitals  of  Lima,  Santiago,  or  Bogota. 

During  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  Spaniards  became  convinced  of  their  short- 
sighted policy  and  made  Buenos  Aires  an  open  port. 
The  English  were  not  slow  to  realize  that  this  was 
one  of  the  best  commercial  situations  in  South  Amer- 
ica, and  that  far  from  being  the  end  of  the  world, 
as  the  Spaniards  thought,  it  was  a  natural  centre 
through  which  the  wealth  of  a  large  part  of  South 
America  was  bound  to  pass.  The  great  Mr.  Pitt, 
who  was  most  interested  in  developing  British  com- 
merce with  South  America,  felt  that  it  would  prob- 
ably be  necessary  to  introduce  British  manufactures 
in  the  wake  of  a  military  expedition,  and  decided 
to  seize  Buenos  Aires,  which  was  so  poorly  defended 
that  it  could  easily  be  captured  by  a  small  resolute 
force. 

Accordingly  in  June,  1806,  an  attack  was  made. 
The  Viceroy,  notwithstanding  repeated  warnings, 
had  made  no  preparations  to  defend  the  city,  and  it 
was  captured  without  difficulty.  There  was  great 
rejoicing  in  London  at  the  report  of  the  victory, 
but  it  was  soon  turned  to  dismay  by  the  news  of  a 
disgraceful  and  unconditional  surrender.  The  sud- 
den overthrow  of  the  English  was  due  largely  to  the 
ability  of  a  local  hero  named  Liniers  who  played 
successfully  on  the  wounded  pride  of  the  Portenos. 

,The  significance  of  the  episode  is  that  it  gave  to 
the  Porteiios  the  idea  that  the  power  of  Spain  could 


48  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

be  easily  overthrown,  and  that  they  actually  had 
the  courage  and  strength  to  win  and  hold  their  own 
independence. 

Hardly  had  the  city  recovered  from  the  effects 
of  its  bombardment  by  the  English  before  events, 
destined  to  produce  a  profound  change  throughout 
South  America,  commenced  to  attract  attention 
in  Spain.  Napoleon  inaugurated  his  peninsula 
campaigns,  and  the  world  beheld  the  spectacle  of 
a  Spanish  king  become  the  puppet  of  a  French  em- 
peror. In  July,  1809,  a  new  Viceroy,  appointed  by 
the  Spanish  cortes  then  engaged  in  fighting  against 
Napoleon,  took  possession  of  the  reins  of  government 
in  Buenos  Aires.  In  the  early  months  of  1810,  Na- 
poleon's armies  were  so  successful  throughout  the 
Spanish  peninsula  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  complete 
subjection  of  Spain  was  about  to  be  accomplished. 

On  May  18,  the  unhappy  Viceroy  allowed  this 
news  from  Spain  to  become  known  in  the  city.  At 
once  a  furor  of  popular  discussion  arose.  Led  by 
Belgrano  and  other  liberal  young  Creoles,  the  people 
decided  to  defy  Napoleon  and  his  puppet  king  of 
Spain  as  they  had  defied  the  soldiers  of  England. 
On  the  25th  of  May,  the  Viceroy,  frightened  out 
of  his  wits,  surrendered  his  authority,  and  a  great 
popular  assembly  that  crowded  the  plaza  to  its  ut- 
most capacity  appointed  a  committee  to  rule  in 
his  stead.  So  the  25th  of  May,  1810,  became  the 
actual  birthday  of  Argentina's  independence,  al- 
though the  acts  of  the  popular  government  were 
for  six  years  done  in  the  name  of  Ferdinand,  the 
deposed  king  of  Spain,  and  the  Act  of  Independence 


ARGENTINE    INDEPENDENCE         49 

was  not  passed  by  the  Argentine  Congress  until 
1816. 

No  sooner  had  Buenos  Aires  thrown  off  the  yoke 
of  Spain  than  she  began  an  active  armed  propaganda 
much  as  the  first  French  republic  did  before  her. 
Other  cities  of  Argentina  were  forcibly  convinced 
of  the  advantages  of  independence,  and  the  armies 
of  Buenos  Aires  pressed  northward  into  what  is 
now  southern  Bolivia.  It  was  their  intention  to  drive 
the  Spanish  armies  entirely  out  of  the  continent, 
and  what  seemed  more  natural  than  that  they  should 
follow  the  old  trade  route  which  they  had  used  for 
centuries,  and  go  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Lima  by  way 
of  the  highlands  of  Bolivia  and  Peru.  But  they  reck- 
oned without  counting  the  cost.  In  the  first  place 
the  Indians  of  those  lofty  arid  regions  do  not  take 
great  interest  in  politics.  It  matters  little  to  them 
who  their  masters  are.  Furthermore,  their  country 
is  not  one  that  is  suited  to  military  campaigns. 
Hundreds  of  square  miles  of  arid  desert  plateaux 
ten  or  twelve  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  a  region 
suited  only  to  support  a  small  population  and  that 
by  dint  of  a  most  careful  system  of  irrigation,  sepa- 
rated by  frightful  mountain  trails  from  any  adequate 
basis  of  supplies,  were  obstacles  that  proved  too 
great  for  them  to  overcome.  Their  little  armies  were 
easily  driven  back.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the 
royalist  armies  attempted  to  descend  from  the 
plateaux  and  attack  the  patriots,  they  were  equally 
unsuccessful.  The  truth  is  that  southern  Bolivia 
and  northern  Argentina  are  regions  where  it  is  far 
easier  to  stay  at  home  and  defend  one's  self  than 


50  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

to  make  successful  attacks  on  one's  neighbors.  An 
army  cannot  live  off  the  country  as  it  goes  along, 
and  the  difficulties  of  supplying  it  with  provisions 
and  supplies  are  almost  insurmountable.  The  first 
man  to  appreciate  this  was  Jos^  San  Martin. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  San  Martin  is  the 
greatest  name  that  South  America  has  produced. 
Bolivar  is  better  known  among  us,  and  he  is  some- 
times spoken  of  as  the  "Washington  of  South 
America."  But  his  character  does  not  stand  inves- 
tigation ;  and  no  one  can  claim  that  his  motives  were 
as  unselfish  or  his  aims  as  lofty  as  those  of  the  great 
general  to  whose  integrity  and  ability  the  foremost 
republics  of  Spanish  South  America,  Argentina, 
Chile,  and  Peru,  owe  their  independence. 

San  Martin  was  born  of  Spanish  parents  not  far 
from  the  present  boundary  between  Argentina  and 
Paraguay.  His  father  was  a  trusted  Spanish  official. 
His  mother  was  a  woman  of  remarkable  courage  and 
foresight.  His  parents  sent  him  to  Spain  at  an  early 
age  to  be  educated.  Military  instincts  soon  drew 
him  into  the  army  and  he  served  in  various  capa- 
cities, both  In  Africa  and  later  against  the  French 
in  the  peninsula.  He  was  able  to  learn  thoroughly 
the  lessons  of  war  and  the  value  of  well-trained 
soldiers.  He  received  the  news  of  the  popular  up- 
rising in  Argentina  while  still  in  Spain,  and  soon 
became  interested  in  the  struggles  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  to  establish  their  independence.  In 
1812  he  returned  to  Buenos  Aires  where  his  unsel- 
fish zeal  and  intelligence  promptly  marked  him  out 
as  an  unusual  leader.    The  troops  under  him  be- 


THE   USP.- 


A   PASS 


ARGENTINE   INDEPENDENCE         51 

came  the   best-drilled  body  of   patriots  in  South 
America. 

After  witnessing  the  futile  attempts  of  the  pa- 
triots to  drive  the  Spanish  armies  out  of  the  moun- 
tains of  Peru  by  way  of  the  highlands  of  Bolivia,  he 
conceived  the  brilliant  idea  of  cutting  ofif  their  com- 
munication with  Spain  by  commanding  the  sea 
power  of  the  West  Coast.  He  established  his  head- 
quarters at  Mendoza  in  western  Argentina,  a  point 
from  which  it  would  be  easy  to  strike  at  Chile 
through  various  passes  across  the  Andes.  Here  he 
stayed  for  two  years  governing  the  province  admi- 
rably, building  up  an  efi(icient  army,  organizing  the 
refugees  that  fled  from  Chile  to  Mendoza,  making 
friends  with  the  Indians,  and  keeping  out  of  the  fac- 
tional quarrels  that  threatened  to  destroy  all  proper 
government  in  Buenos  Aires.  In  January,  181 7,  his 
army  was  ready.  He  led  the  Spaniards  to  think  that 
he  might  cross  the  Andes  almost  anywhere,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  scattering  their  forces  so  as  to  enable  him 
to  bring  the  main  body  of  his  army  over  the  most 
practical  route,  the  Uspallata  Pass. 

The  expedition  was  successful,  and  in  1818  San 
Martin  had  the  satisfaction  of  administering  such  a 
decisive  defeat  to  the  Spaniards  at  Maipo  as  to  in- 
sure Chilean  independence.  With  the  aid  of  a  re- 
markable soldier  of  fortune,  Thomas  Cochran,  Earl 
of  Dundonald,  and  an  interesting  group  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  seamen,  San  Martin  drove  the  Spaniards 
from  the  West  Coast  and  captured  the  city  of  Lima. 
The  aid  which  was  given  him  by  Buenos  Aires  and 
Chile  was  not  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  penetrate 


52  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  great  Andes  of  the  interior  and  totally  destroy 
the  last  Spanish  army.  He  sought  Bolivar's  aid,  but 
that  proud  Liberator  would  only  come  as  Comman- 
der-in-chief. So,  rather  than  sacrifice  the  cause  of 
independence,  San  Martin,  with  unexampled  self- 
effacement,  gave  up  his  well-trained  veterans  to  Boli- 
var and  Sucre  and  quietly  withdrew  to  his  modest 
home  in  Argentina.  His  unwillingness  to  enter  into 
political  squabbles,  his  large-minded  statesmanship, 
and  his  dignified  bearing  did  not  endear  him  to  his 
fellow  countrymen,  and  he  was  forced  to  pass  the  de- 
clining years  of  his  life  in  Europe,  an  exile  from  his 
native  land. 

The  history  of  the  period  is  full  of  petty  personal 
rivalries  and  absurd  political  squabbles.  Against 
these  as  a  background  the  magnificent  figure  of  San 
Martin,  efficient  soldier,  wise  statesman,  and  unsel- 
fish patriot,  stands  out  plainly  distinct.  His  achieve- 
ments are  worthy  to  be  remembered  with  those  of 
the  greatest  heroes  of  history.  His  character,  the 
finest  that  South  America  has  ever  produced,  has 
few  equals  in  the  annals  of  any  country. 

For  many  years  he  was  disliked  by  his  fellow  pa- 
triots because  he  openly  expressed  the  belief  that 
they  were  not  fit  for  pure  democratic  government. 
Since  his  day  many  South  Americans  agree  with  him. 

The  most  serious  criticism,  however,  which  we 
can  lay  at  the  door  of  the  South  American  is  his  lack 
of  political  cohesion.  The  border  provinces  are  ever- 
lastingly rebelling  against  the  decrees  of  the  central 
government.  Furthermore,  when  the  Spanish  colo- 
nies secured  their  independence,  they  either  did  not 


SPANISH-AMERICAN  SOLIDARITY     53 

combine  or  else  combining  soon  fell  apart.  The  rea- 
son for  this  lack  of  solidarity  may  be  found  in  the 
history  of  the  Hispanic  race  and  in  the  geographical 
conditions  that  exist  in  the  southern  continent. 

In  criticising  South  American  habits  of  mind  and 
political  tendencies,  one  must  remember  that  the 
moral  and  intellectual  characteristics  that  form  the 
soul  of  a  people  have  been  developed  by  its  entire 
past  and  represent  the  inheritance  of  its  ancestors. 
For  the  motives  of  its  conduct,  one  must  look  to  its 
history. 

Historically,  the  Hispanic  race  was  led  to  develop 
individualistic  rather  than  cooperative  action.  The 
forces  at  work  in  the  peninsula  were  centrifugal 
rather  than  centripetal.  A  small  handful  of  brave 
mountaineers  were  almost  the  only  inhabitants  of 
the  peninsula  that  were  able  to  defy  the  Moorish  con- 
querors. The  process  of  the  Christian  re-conquest 
of  Spain  was  so  slow  that  it  took  nearly  eight  centur- 
ies for  her  to  grow  from  the  lonely,  rocky  fastness  of 
Covadonga  to  the  group  of  Christian  kingdoms  that 
embraced  the  entire  peninsula.  During  these  eight 
hundred  years,  preceding  the  Conquest  of  America, 
the  Spaniards  fought  almost  continuously  against 
an  ever-present  enemy.  This  developed  a  strong 
municipal  spirit,  for  the  towns  on  the  frontier  were 
in  constant  danger  of  attacks  from  the  Moors,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  grant  them  very  considerable  pow- 
ers. As  the  boundaries  of  Christian  Spain  extended 
southward,  new  cities  came  to  be  frontier  posts,  but 
the  old  ones  retained  the  powers  and  the  semi-inde- 
pendence they  had  previously  gained. 


54  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  result  was  a  race  of  men  devoted  primarily  to 
their  cities;  only  secondarily  to  the  province  or  king- 
dom to  which  their  city  belonged,  and  quite  incident- 
ally to  Spain  as  a  geographical  and  linguistic  unit. 
Such  a  racial  tendency  could  not  help  developing 
that  disregard  of  large  national  interests  in  prefer- 
ence to  petty  local  concerns  which  has  been  a  most 
unfortunate  trait  in  the  history  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can republics.  For  while  it  may  be  true  that  the  con- 
ception of  the  city  as  the  soul  of  the  native  country 
has  always  been  effective  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  development  of  civilization,  it  has  been  disas- 
trous in  its  effect  on  national  progress.  It  was  just 
that  loyalty  to  the  municipality  that  prevented  the 
growth  of  the  Greek  Empire. 

Another  result  of  the  eight  hundred  years  of  Chris- 
tian warfare  against  the  infidel  Moor,  was  the  devel- 
opment of  moral  and  physical  qualities  that  made 
possible  the  marvellously  rapid  conquest  of  America 
by  small  companies  of  coiiquistadores.  Brave,  big- 
oted, courageous,  accustomed  to  continuous  hostili- 
ties, ardently  devoted  to  a  cause  for  which  they  were 
willing  to  lay  down  their  lives,  fighting  to  the  last 
ditch,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  ancestors  of  the 
South  Americans  were  able  to  achieve  such  wonder- 
ful results  in  the  early  sixteenth  century. 

Only  a  vigorous  and  rising  nation  could  have  ac- 
complished the  great  work  of  exploring,  conquering, 
and  colonizing  America  which  was  done  at  that  time. 
,.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  wonderful  transformation 
was  then  taking  place  in  Spain.  The  marriage  of 
Ferdinand  and   Isabella  had   united   by   personal 


SPANISH-AMERICAN  SOLIDARITY     55 

bonds  what  had  formerly  been  a  handful  of  detached 
kingdoms.  These  countries  each  had  their  own  laws, 
their  own  peculiar  customs  and  separate  administra- 
tive systems.  Some  of  the  provinces  were  inhabited 
by  people  of  different  stock.  The  process  of  unifica- 
tion was  almost  contemporaneous  with  the  conquest 
and  colonization  of  America. 

For  a  career  destined  to  be  as  great  as  that  of  any 
of  the  larger  empires  of  history,  Spain  had  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  colonizing  period  an  inadequate  po- 
litical organization.  Spanish  racial  unity  and  reli- 
gious uniformity  were  of  recent  growth.  The  Euro- 
pean progenitors  of  the  conquerors  did  not  fight  for 
Spain  as  a  whole,  but  rather  as  citizens  of  a  munici- 
pality or  as  vassals  of  a  petty  king.  The  spirit  of  a 
centralized,  unified  government  whose  citizens  are 
willing  to  sacrifice  everything  for  the  sake  of  their 
nation,  did  not  run  in  their  blood.  They  belonged 
to  a  fragmentary  and  embryonic  group  of  nations. 
Spain  did  not  adopt  a  policy  of  centralization  long 
enough  before  the  acquisition  of  her  American  col- 
onies to  allow  the  results  of  such  a  change  in  meth- 
odsof  government  to  affect  popularhabits  of  thought. 
In  the  meantime,  South  America  was  being  colo- 
nized by  men  who  had  no  sense  of  racial  unity  and 
few  tendencies  towards  concerted  political  action. 
[■  Hence  it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  their  descend- 
ants, the  heroes  of  the  Wars  of  Emancipation,  did 
not  find  it  easy  or  natural  to  unite  under  one  gov- 
ernment. It  was  in  accordance  with  the  history  of 
their  race  that  they  should  form  separate  political 
establishments.   It  was  also  in  accordance  with  that 


56  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Spanish  colonial  policy  which  forbade  communica- 
tion between  the  different  colonies  and  in  no  way  en- 
couraged a  community  of  interests. 

Historically  then,  there  was  little  to  cause  the 
South  American  colonies  on  achieving  their  inde- 
pendence, to  unite,  even  had  they  not  been  sepa- 
rated by  tremendous  natural  obstacles. 

Although  the  basins  of  the  Amazon,  the  La  Plata, 
and  the  Orinoco  offered  many  thousands  of  miles  of 
navigable  highways,  the  masses  of  water  were  to6 
copious  and  too  irregular  to  be  controlled  until  the 
era  of  steam  navigation.  In  the  great  valleys  east  of 
the  Andes,  the  excessive  fertility  of  the  soil  has  pro- 
duced an  enormous  area  of  continuous  woodlands, 
a  mass  of  vegetation  that  has  defied  the  efforts  of  cen- 
turies to  effect  clearings  and  roads.  This  densely 
timbered  and  sparsely  inhabited  region  keeps  Vene- 
zuela from  having  any  dealings  with  Bolivia  more 
effectually  than  if  an  absolute  desert  lay  between 
them. 

There  is  nothing  that  separates  one  of  the  United 
States  from  another  that  is  at  all  comparable  to  the 
lofty  chain  of  the  Andes  and  the  impenetrable  jungle 
that  lies  for  hundreds  of  miles  on  the  eastern  slope 
of  the  Cordillera.  The  more  one  considers  the  mat- 
ter, the  more  it  seems  as  though  nature  could  not 
have  placed  more  impassable  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  intercommunication  if  she  had  set  out  with  that 
definite  purpose  in  view.  In  comparison  with  the  dif- 
ficulties of  travelling  from  Lima,  the  centre  of  the  old 
Spanish  domain,  to  Buenos  Aires,  a  journey  from 
New  York  to  Charleston  in  the  days  of  the  Ameri- 


SPANISH-AMERICAN  SOLIDARITY     57 

can  revolution  was  a  mere  pleasure  jaunt,  and  yet  it 
seemed  difficult  enough  at  that  time!  Nowhere  in 
the  English  colonies  existed  such  impediments  to 
communication  as  the  deserts  of  northern  Chile 
and  southern  Peru,  the  swamps  of  eastern  Colombia 
and  western  Venezuela,  the  forests  of  Ecuador,  Peru, 
and  Bolivia,  or  the  gigantic  chain  of  the  Andes  whose 
lowest  point  for  thousands  of  miles  is  ten  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea. 

#  The  founders  of  the  original  thirteen  English  colo- 
nies not  only  inherited  racial  unity  but  providen- 
tially built  their  homes  on  a  short  strip  of  coast  and 
occupied  a  homogeneous  country,  no  larger  than  a 
single  Spanish  colony.  Their  union  followed  as  a 
matter  of  course. 

It  was  quite  otherwise  in  South  America.  For,  as 
though  it  were  not  enough  that  the  tendency  of  the 
race  was  towards  building  up  individual  communi- 
ties rather  than  federations,  as  though  the  laws  for- 
bidding the  colonists  from  trading  with  one  another 
and  from  travelling  from  one  colony  to  another  were 
not  a  sufficient  preventive  of  union,  all  the  forces  of 
nature,  mountains,  rivers,  deserts,  swamps,  and  even 
winds,  combined  to  promote  the  isolation  of  the  new 
republics.  The  top  of  the  highest  mountain  in  the 
thirteen  English  colonies  was  not  half  as  high  as  the 
lowest  point  in  the  ranges  of  lofty  mountains  that 
separated  the  Spanish  colonies ;  nor  one  third  as  high 
as  the  Uspallata  Pass  by  which  Chile  is  connected 
with  Argentina. 

It  is  not  for  us  to  criticise  the  South  Americans  for 
having  failed  to  unite  and  form  a  great  nation.  Our 


58  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ancestors  were  favored  by  nature  with  a  region  that 
is  comparatively  accessible  in  all  parts.  It  is  not  any 
more  creditable  to  the  English  colonists  that  they 
united  than  it  is  discreditable  to  the  Latin-Ameri- 
cans that  they  did  not.  In  both  cases,  racial  char- 
acteristics, aided  by  diverse  policies  of  colonial  ad- 
ministration made  a  foundation  for  growth  which  by 
an  extraordinary  coincidence,  was  in  every  possible 
way  favored  by  local  geographical  conditions. 

The  English  colonists,  on  securing  their  independ* 
ence,  had  been  acquainted  with  one  another  for  gen- 
erations ;  had  fought  side  by  side  in  the  French  and 
Indian  wars;  had  intermarried,  built  up  social  and 
business  friendships ;  united  in  sending  agents  to  the 
mother  country  and  in  sending  representatives  to 
Congresses  where  the  leading  men  of  each  colony 
came  to  know  one  another's  desires  and  aspirations. 
Placed  by  fate  on  a  narrow  strip  of  coast  less  in 
length  than  the  seaboard  of  Chile  alone,  enabled  by 
nature  to  communicate  both  by  sea  and  land,  sep- 
arated from  one  another  by  neither  deserts  nor  lofty 
mountains,  what  more  likely  than  that  they  should 
have  followed  their  natural  traditions  and  formed  a 
single  nation?  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the 
South  American  colonists  following  such  an  example 
were  stupendous.  Scattered  over  an  enormous  area, 
separated  by  the  greatest  natural  boundaries  that 
nature  has  produced,  it  was  scarcely  to  be  expected 
that  they  too  should  not  follow  the  traditions  of 
their  race  and  build  up  local  governments  instead 
of  forming  a  federation. 

The  historical  and  geographical  reasons  that  pre- 


SPANISH-AMERICAN  SOLIDARITY     59 

vented  the  formation  of  confederations  have  also 
mitigated  against  the  building  up  of  strong  national 
governments.  The  citizen  Is  still  inclined  to  favor 
the  affairs  of  his  city  rather  than  the  good  of  his 
country.  He  finds  It  easier  to  be  loyal  to  the  local 
chieftain  than  to  the  central  government.  The  cure 
for  this,  however,  is  already  in  sight.  The  energy 
and  enterprise  of  English,  French,  and  German  capi- 
talists are  overcoming  the  obstacles  that  nature  has 
placed  In  the  way  of  intercommunication. 

In  time,  aided  by  steam  and  electric  systems  of 
transportation,  some  of  the  Southern  Republics  may 
even  unite  with  others.  But  before  this  comes  about 
it  may  confidently  be  expected  in  the  near  future 
that  the  development  of  new  transportation  facili- 
ties will  make  possible  the  growth  of  strong  national 
feeling  and  will  prevent  the  states  from  falling  apart. 
It  will  certainly  make  revolutions  less  frequent  and 
bring  a  condition  of  stability  that  will  even  attract 
American  capital  and  greatly  augment  European 
immigration. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  TUCUMAN   EXPRESS 

FOR  nearly  three  centuries  the  most  important 
trade-route  in  South  America  was  the  overland 
trail  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Lima  by  way  of  the  silver 
mines  of  Potosi.  The  system  of  travel  for  both  pas- 
sengers and  freight  was  well  established.  In  1773 
there  was  published  a  little  book  called  "El  Laza- 
rillo,"  "The  BHnd  Man's  Guide,"  which  contains 
full  information  for  travellers  going  from  Buenos 
Aires  to  Lima  with  exact  itineraries  and  "with  some 
useful  notes  for  those  new  business  men  who  traffic 
by  means  of  mules."  The  road  with  its  post-houses, 
its  relays  of  mules,  and  its  provisions  for  the  comfort 
of  man  and  beast  is  well  described.  Buenos  Aires 
is  credited  with  having  twenty-two  thousand  souls, 
of  whom  "ninety-nine  are  orphans  and  sixty-eight 
are  in  jail!" 

I  should  have  liked  nothing  better  than  to  have 
been  able  to  follow  "The  Blind  Man's  Guide"  from 
post-house  to  post-house  along  the  entire  distance. 
But  alas,  since  the  days  of  railways,  many  of  the 
road-houses  that  formerly  offered  "good  accommo- 
dations to  travellers,"  have  disappeared,  and  it  is 
necessary  to  go  as  the  world  goes  and  take  the  train , 
—  when  there  is  one. 

On   November   13,  1908,   accompanied  by  Mr.] 


THE  TUCUMAN  EXPRESS  6i 

Huntington  Smith,  Jr.,  I  left  Buenos  Aires  for  Boli- 
via. The  first  stage  of  the  journey,  seven  hundred 
and  twenty  miles,  was  by  train  to  Tucuman,  over 
the  tracks  of  the  Buenos  Aires  and  Rosario  R.  R., 
one  of  the  oldest  and  richest  railways  in  Argentina. 
Our  train  was  made  up  entirely  of  vestibuled  sleep- 
ing and  dining  cars. 

Among  the  first-class  passengers  was  a  newly 
arrived  Spanish  mercantile  clerk  and  a  French  com- 
mercial traveller.  I  noticed  more  French  in  Argen- 
tina and  Brazil  than  on  the  West  Coast  or  in  the 
northern  countries.  Especially  in  the  large  cities, 
they,  with  the  Germans  and  English,  have  been 
very  active  in  promoting  local  enterprises. 

In  the  first  fifteen  miles  out  from  Buenos  Aires 
we  saw  numbers  of  villas  shaded  by  groves  of  euca- 
lyptus trees  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  owner's 
broad  acres.  There  is  considerable  evidence  of  mar- 
ket gardening  and  general  agriculture.  So  far  as  we 
could  see  from  the  train,  the  roads  are  very  bad  and 
have  not  improved  since  the  days  of  the  woe-begot- 
ten travellers  who  had  to  cross  these  plains  in  ox- 
carts. 

When  Edmund  Temple,  the  breezy  secretary  of 
the  Potosi,  La  Paz  &  Peruvian  Mining  Association, 
crossed  Argentina  on  his  way  to  Bolivia  in  1825,  he 
was  struck  with  the  immense  number  of  "hoppers" 
that  they  passed  on  the  Pampas.  He  says  the  lo- 
custs covered  the  road  and  adjacent  parts  for 
miles.  In  those  days,  pasturage  was  plenty,  and  cul- 
tivated fields  were  scarce,  so  nobody  cared  very 
much.   It  is  only  with  the  increasing  importance  of 


62  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

crops  that  the  Argentlnos  have  come  to  regard  the 
swarms  of  locusts  as  a  great  pest,  and  have  spent 
many  thousands  of  dollars  fighting  them.  They  are 
now  planning  to  build  a  fence  of  sheet  zinc,  costing 
several  million  dollars,  to  keep  back  the  "hoppers." 
Some  modern  travellers  have  had  their  trains  de- 
layed by  locust  swarms  on  the  tracks,  but  we  saw 
comparatively  few. 

Our  first  stops  were  at  suburban  towns,  which  are 
more  attractive  than  one  would  suppose  in  a  coun- 
try that  is  so  flat.  At  one  of  them,  on  the  River 
Tigre,  the  English  colony  has  made  boating  fash- 
ionable, with  festivals  like  those  at  Henley.  We  had 
showers  in  the  course  of  the  morning,  but  the  country 
over  which  we  passed  looked  rather  dry. 

A  characteristic  feature  of  the  Pampas  are  the 
modern  windmills  with  their  steel  frames.  Most  of 
them  are  of  American  make,  for  despite  our  back- 
wardness in  some  lines,  we  have  been  peculiarly  suc- 
cessful in  supplying  Argentina  with  windmills.  In 
fact,  we  have  almost  monopolized  that  particular 
business.  Fortunately,  our  manufacturers  seem  also 
to  excel  in  the  production  of  small  and  inexpensive 
motors,  such  as  are  particularly  desired  on  farms 
and  ranches  where,  owing  to  the  extreme  difficulty 
of  getting  workmen,  there  is  an  excellent  market  for 
labor-saving  machinery.  Notwithstanding  this  en- 
couraging feature,  for  every  million  dollars'  worth  of 
goods  which  Argentina  imports  from  the  United 
States,  she  imports  six  millions  from  Europe. 
•  Many  of  the  interior  towns  have  their  own  elec- 
tric lighting  plants.  The  agents  of  German  manu- 


THE  TUCUMAN  EXPRESS  63 

facturers  have  been  far-sighted  in  following  up  new 
concessions  and  in  getting  large  contracts  for  the  in- 
stallation of  German  machinery.  It  takes  a  good 
many  windmills  to  equal  one  electric  lighting  plant. 

Our  train  made  a  short  stop  at  Rosario,  the  second 
largest  city  in  Argentina.  Owing  to  its  advanta- 
geous situation  at  the  bend  of  the  Parana  River,  it 
has  become  a  most  important  port. 

Accessible  throughout  the  year  to  vessels  drawing 
sixteen  feet,  it  is  the  terminus  of  many  trans- Atlantic 
lines  which  bring  European  manufactured  goods 
here  in  exchange  for  wheat  and  cattle.  Some  ore 
from  Bolivia  is  also  shipped  from  here.  On  our  mule 
trip  in  Southern  Bolivia  we  saw  hundreds  of  animals 
laden  with  huge  packing-cases  from  Europe  marked 
"via  Rosario." 

The  other  important  new  port  in  Argentina  is 
Bahia  Blanca,  which  is  situated  several  hundred 
miles  south  of  Buenos  Aires  and  is  connected  by  rail- 
ways with  the  newly  opened  regions  in  northern 
Patagonia.  There  is  no  scarcity  of  good  agricultural 
land  as  yet  undeveloped.  Were  the  government  of 
Argentina  as  well  managed  for  the  interests  of  the 
individual  farmer  as  the  governments  of  our  west- 
ern states,  there  is  no  question  that  Argentina  would 
secure  a  much  higher  grade  of  immigrant.  The  op- 
portunities are  truly  magnificent,  but  I  was  re- 
peatedly told  by  foreign  residents  who  are  engaged  in 
farming,  that  there  are  many  unpleasant  features. 
The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  Argentino  is  too 
fond  of  keeping  political  power  in  his  own  hands.  He 
does  not  understand  all  that  is  meant  by  a  constitu- 


64  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

tional  democratic  form  of  government.  It  Is  not  his 
fault,  for  his  race  history,  as  we  have  seen,  has  given 
him  other  inheritances  and  prejudices.  Neverthe- 
less he  is  learning. 

(  -  Leaving  Rosarlo  we  plunged  Into  the  heart  of  a 
great  agricultural  and  pastoral  region.  The  heat 
and  dust  were  rather  trying.  The  humidity  was  con- 
siderable, being  about  eighty  per  cent  in  our  car. 
In  truth,  we  experienced  all  the  various  annoyances 
to  which  one  is  subject  when  crossing  our  western 
plains,  in  a  moderately  slow  train.  We  had  been 
told  that  this  Tucuman  express  was  "  the  finest  train 
in  America."  Some  of  the  young  Englishmen  on  our 
steamer  were  extremely  enthusiastic  over  it  and  as- 
sured us  that  we  could  have  nothing  so  fine  in  the 
United  States.  Consequently  we  were  somewhat 
disappointed  to  find  the  standard  of  comfort  not  any 
greater  than  it  was  on  our  western  trains  fifteen 
years  ago. 

There  is  one  thing,  however,  in  which  the  "B.  A. 
and  R."  is  ahead  of  most  American  railroads.  At 
each  station  are  one  or  two  very  large  sign-boards 
conveniently  placed  so  that  the  stranger  has  no  diffi- 
culty in  ascertaining  whether  he  has  reached  his  des- 
tination or  not.  And  there  are  other  little  things 
along  the  line  that  make  one  feel  the  presence  of  rail- 
way officials  carefully  trained  In  English  railway 
methods.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  road  is 
largely  owned  In  England  and  has  Anglo-Saxons  for 
its  principal  officers. 

Argentina  has  about  thirteen  thousand  miles  of 
railway  operated  under  some  twenty  companies. 


THE  TUCUMAN   EXPRESS  65 

One  thousand  seven  hundred  miles  are  owned  by  the 
government,  but  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  railway 
system  is  controlled  by  British  capitalists.  A  little 
more  than  half  of  the  mileage  consists  of  the  very 
broad  five  and  a  half  foot  gauge.  The  remainder  is 
one  metre  or  less.  The  three  gauges  necessitate  con- 
siderable transferring  of  freight  and  passengers. 

To  one  who  is  accustomed  to  thinking  of  Argen- 
tina as  a  rich  but  undeveloped  region,  it  seems  in- 
credible that  she  should  have  fifty  thousand  freight- 
cars  and  two  thousand  passenger-coaches.  It  is 
still  more  astonishing  to  learn  that  every  year  her 
railways  carry  thirty  million  passengers,  and  thirty 
million  tons  of  freight,  of  which  about  one  third  are 
cereals.  During  the  year  1906,  the  receipts  from  the 
passenger  traffic  amounted  to  more  than  $18,000,00, 
and  from  freight  traffic  to  something  over  $55,000,- 
000.  Statistics  are  dry  and  uninteresting  except  as 
they  open  our  eyes  to  conditions  of  which  we  have 
formed  but  a  small  conception.  The  extremely 
rapid  growth  of  the  Argentine  railways  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  while  in  1884  the  capital  invested  did 
not  amount  to  $100,000,000,  it  now  amounts  to  over 
$700,000,000. 

So  far  as  killing  people  is  concerned,  the  Argen- 
tine railways  do  not  come  up  to  our  record,  although 
they  do  fairly  well.  In  1905  they  killed,  all  told,  two 
hundred  and  eighteen  persons,  and  in  1906,  two 
hundred  and  fifty.  This  is  a  heavier  percentage  per 
passenger  carried  than  in  the  United  States. 

Towards  evening  we  left  the  farming  country  and 
entered  a  barren  region  where  great  stretches  of 


66  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

perfectly  flat  land  seemed  to  promise  splendid  re- 
sults if  it  could  be  irrigated. 

The  dust  increased,  and  we  were  glad  enough  to 
be  hauled  over  these  dry  pampas  of  Santa  Fe  and 
Santiago  del  Estero  in  a  night,  instead  of  being  ob- 
liged to  spend  a  fortnight  on  them  following  a  slow- 
moving  Spanish  caravan. 

'  When  we  looked  out  of  the  car  window  the  next 
morning  all  was  changed.  Sugar-cane  fields  waving 
attractively  in  the  sunlight,  big  wheeled  carts  lum- 
bering noisily  along  drawn  by  oxen  or  mules,  lithe 
horsemen  riding  strong  little  ponies  through  thickets 
of  dry  scrub,  had  transformed  the  scene  from  the 
everlasting  prairies  of  the  pampas  into  the  highlands 
of  the  northwest.  The  hills  beyond  the  fields  of  cane 
were  covered  with  a  scrubby  growth.  To  the  north- 
west and  north  arose  green  mountains  that  seemed 
to  be  forested  to  their  tops.  Some  of  the  trees  were 
in  bloom  with  brilliant  yellow  flowers. 

The  contrast  between  the  dry,  barren  pampas  and 
the  green  cane-fields  of  Tucuman  is  so  striking  that 
Argentine  writers  have  been  accustomed  to  speak  of 
the  latter  in  terms  of  the  most  extravagant  praise. 
Even  the  well-travelled  Sarmiento  called  it  the 
"Eden  of  America,"  "where  nature  had  displayed 
its  greatest  pomp!"  As  a  matter  of  fact  Tucuman 
is  admirably  situated  in  a  very  fertile  and  highly 
cultivated  plain,  and  is  the  centre  of  the  most  im- 
portant sugar-growing  region  in  Argentina.  In  its 
immediate  vicinity  we  counted  a  dozen  tall  chimneys 
of  sugar  factories. 

We  reached  the  city  about  ten  o'clock. 


THE  TUCUMAN  EXPRESS  67 

It  was  founded  about  the  time  that  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  was  looking  for  Eldorado.  Here  in  18 16, 
the  Argentine  Congress  passed  their  Declaration  of 
Independence.  Here  Belgrano  won  a  great  victory- 
over  the  Spanish  armies  that  had  descended  from 
Peru  to  crush  the  Argentine  patriots. 

The  Tucuman  station,  a  large  modern  affair,  was 
chiefly  interesting  because  of  the  picturesque  char- 
acter of  the  luggage  that  was  lying  about  the  plat- 
forms. Chairs  and  cots,  pots  and  pans,  spring  mat- 
tresses, and  hen-coops,  all  bore  evidence  to  the  fact 
that  this  is  still  a  young  country  into  which  new  set- 
tlers are  coming,  and  that  the  Railroad  Company 
has  the  good  sense  to  make  it  easy  for  people  to 
travel  with  all  their  possessions.  Everything  was 
checked  and  went  in  the  luggage- van,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  instead  of  being  handed  over  to  "slow- 
freight  "  or  rapacious  express  companies,  as  with  us. 

Most  of  the  immigrants  were  Italians  from  Genoa 
and  the  north  of  Italy.  A  few  came  from  Galicia, 
the  home  of  Spain's  most  sturdy  peasantry.  Neither 
immigrants  nor  residents  wore  picturesque  costumes. 
Even  the  Gauchos  are  dressed  in  civilized  raiment 
and  bear  little  resemblance  to  the  South  American 
Indian  of  our  dreams.  It  is  too  progressive  a  coun- 
try to  allow  its  clothes  to  get  in  its  way. 

The  facts  relating  to  Buenos  Aires  and  Argentina 
are  at  every  one's  elbow  so  it  is  all  the  more  aston- 
ishing how  ignorant  the  average  American  is  regard- 
ing the  great  metropolis  of  the  southern  hemisphere. 
We  are  very  fond  of  telling  stories  of  our  English 
cousins  who  imagine  that  our  western  states  are 


68  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

overrun  with  wild  Indians  and  desperadoes.  And 
we  think  it  inexcusable  in  them  to  judge  from  the 
frequent  press  reports  of  lynchings  and  "hold-ups" 
that  we  are  an  uncivilized,  lawless  people.  Yet  we 
judge  the  Argentino  just  as  hastily.  Not  only  are  we 
quite  ignorant  of  his  material  progress,  we  also  fre- 
quently slander  him  for  having  an  "unstable  gov- 
ernment." "Revolutions"  or  struggles  for  govern- 
mental control  occur,  it  is  true,  but  they  do  not 
amount  to  much  and  hardly  deserve  the  exagger- 
ated reports  of  them  which  are  published  abroad. 
In  a  country  that  has  been  bound  together  by  such 
a  network  of  railroads  as  Argentina,  making  it  pos- 
sible for  the  government  in  power  to  send  its  troops 
rapidly  wheresoever  it  will,  the  habit  of  playing  with 
revolutions  is  sure  to  die  out.  In  the  old  days  when 
transportation  was  slow  and  difficult,  it  was  possible 
for  a  popular  leader  to  gather  a  considerable  band  of 
followers  and  prepare  to  march  on  the  capital  be- 
fore the  government  knew  of  his  existence.  Such 
uprisings,  however,  are  necessarily  the  work  of  days 
or  weeks,  and  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  difficult 
to  bring  them  to  a  successful  issue.  As  an  evidence 
of  the  more  stable  condition  of  the  government  and 
as  showing  how  Argentina  has  recovered  from  the 
setback  which  it  got  at  the  time  of  the  failure  of  the 
Baring  Brothers,  it  is  well  to  note  that  in  the  ten 
years  between  1895  and  1905,  the  foreign  trade  of 
Buenos  Aires  more  than  doubled,  growing  to  more 
than  half  a  billion  dollars  annually. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THROUGH   THE   ARGENTINE  HIGHLANDS 

AT  Tucuman  we  left  the  broad  gauge  of  the 
British-built  Buenos  Aires  and  Rosario  R.  R. 
for  the  metre  gauge  of  the  North  Central  Railway, 
an  Argentine  Government  line,  that  runs  to  Jujuy 
and  has  recently  been  continued  northward  to  La 
Quiaca,  on  the  Bolivian  frontier.  The  distance 
from  Buenos  Aires  to  La  Quiaca  is  1150  miles.  Of 
this  we  had  done  700  miles  in  the  first  twenty-four 
hours.  The  last  450  miles  required  another  twenty- 
four  hours,  divided  into  two  daylight  periods,  as 
sleeping-cars  are  not  run  on  the  North  Central  R.  R. 
In  this  stretch  the  elevation  rises  from  thirteen  hun- 
dred feet  to  twelve  thousand  feet,  and  the  journey 
lies  entirely  in  the  Argentine  Highlands. 

Our  train  was  mixed  passenger  and  freight.  The 
locomotive  was  a  "  Baldwin  "  and  the  cars  were  made 
in  Wilmington,  Del.  We  had,  besides,  an  excellent 
dining-car  that  seated  sixteen  people  and  provided 
a  table  d'hote  meal  served  in  the  usual  Spanish  style. 
The  third-class  passengers,  however,  patronized  the 
enterprising  women  who  sold  flat  loaves  of  bread, 
hard-boiled  eggs,  and  native  drinks  at  the  stations 
where  we  stopped. 

Not  long  after  leaving  Tucuman,  we  passed 
through  a  tunnel,  the  first  one  in  eight  hundred  miles. 


70  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Rather  a  different  experience  from  my  journey  in 
Venezuela,  from  Caracas  to  Valencia,  where  in  the 
course  of  an  hour  we  passed  through  sixty-five  tun- 
nels, one  every  minute! 

With  many  windings  we  climbed  up  into  the  hills. 
Grass  became  scarcer  and  cactus  and  mimosa  trees 
more  common.  We  passed  a  small  flock  of  goats. 
Dust  and  sand  came  into  the  train  in  clouds.  Occa- 
sionally we  passed  lofty  whirlwinds,  but  none  of  them 
troubled  us.  The  humidity  to-day  was  very  much 
less,  being  under  forty  per  cent.  The  streams  seemed 
to  be  very  low.   We  saw  a  few  locusts. 

At  many  of  the  stations  were  carts  drawn  by  mules 
harnessed  three  abreast,  with  a  loose  rope- tackle  that 
is  characteristic  of  this  hilly  region.  The  houses  of 
some  of  the  more  well-to-do  were  built  of  corrugated 
iron  and  wood,  but  most  were  made  of  mud.  As  it 
was  the  dry  season,  the  cots  were  usually  out  of 
doors. 

The  evidences  of  prosperity  at  Ruis  de  los  Llanos 
consisted  of  new  stucco  buildings  of  attractive  con- 
struction with  arcades  in  front  and  courtyards  in 
the  interior,  a  modern  application  of  old  Spanish 
architectural  ideas.  Other  buildings  were  nearing 
completion,  to  accommodate  the  bakers  and  grocers 
who  supply  the  quebracho  cutters.  There  are  great 
forests  of  quebracho  on  the  plains  of  the  Gran  Chaco 
to  the  east  and  northeast.  The  wood  is  extremely 
hard  and  very  serviceable  for  railway- ties.  Owing 
to  the  difficulty  that  is  experienced  in  cutting  it,  it 
has  earned  for  itself  the  sobriquet  of  "axe-breaker." 
It  is  the  chief  article  of  export  from  this  region.  The 


THE  ARGENTINE  HIGHLANDS        71 

bark  is  shipped  to  tanneries  as  far  away  as  Cali- 
fornia. 

At  Matan,  another  important  station,  there  was  a 
new  hotel,  the  "  Cosmopolita,"  a  clean-looking  Span- 
ish inn,  near  the  railway  station.  Near  by  lay  huge 
logs  of  quebracho  awaiting  shipment.  The  hills  were 
well  wooded,  and  we  saw  a  number  of  agave  plants 
and  mimosa  trees.  Firewood  is  shipped  from  here 
to  the  treeless  Pampas.  Here  we  noticed,  for  the 
first  time,  riding-boots  of  a  curious  fashion,  so  very 
corrugated  that  we  dubbed  them  "concertinas." 
They  are  much  in  vogue  also  in  southern  Bolivia. 
■  At  Rio  Piedras,  where  a  dozen  of  our  third-class 
passengers  alighted  with  many  baskets  and  bundles, 
we  heard  the  familiar  hum  of  a  sawmill.  Near  the 
track  were  more  quebracho  logs.  A  burly  passenger 
who  had  joined  us  at  Tucuman,  ready  dressed  and 
prepared  for  a  long  horseback  ride,  left  us  here. 
With  a  large  broad-brimmed  hat,  loose  white  jumper, 
large  baggy  white  cotton  trousers,  and  "concer- 
tinas,' '  he  came  very  near  being  picturesque.  Throw- 
ing over  his  shoulder  a  pair  of  cotton  saddle-bags 
well  stocked  with  interesting  little  bundles,  he 
walked  slowly  away  from  the  train  with  that  curious 
shuffling  gait  common  to  those  who  spend  most  of 
their  lives  in  the  saddle. 

Not  far  away  we  saw  some  newly  arrived  Ameri- 
can farm  machinery,  a  part  of  the  largest  item  of 
Argentine  imports  from  the  United  States. 

During  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  we  wound  out 
of  the  hills  far  enough  to  be  able  to  see  far  over  the 
plains  to  the  east.   Here  there  was  more  vegetation 


72  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

and  some  corn  growing.  On  the  left  were  jagged 
hills  and  mountains.  The  temperature  in  the  car 
about  four  o'clock  was  eighty-five  degrees.  Our  alti- 
tude was  about  twenty-five  hundred  feet.  5 

As  we  went  north  through  hot,  dusty  valleys, 
climbing  up  into  the  foot-hills  of  the  Andes,  the  faces 
of  the  loiterers  at  the  stations  lost  the  cosmopolitan 
aspect  that  they  have  in  and  about  Buenos  Aires. 
We  saw  more  of  the  typical  Gaucho  who  is  descended 
from  the  aboriginal  Indians  of  the  Pampas  and  bold 
Spanish  cattle-drivers.  Tall  in  stature,  with  a  robust 
frame  and  a  swarthy  complexion,  he  possesses  great 
powers  of  endurance  and  is  a  difficult  person  to  han- 
dle. His  tendencies  are  much  like  those  of  the  fast 
disappearing  American  "cow  puncher,"  but  he  has 
the  disadvantage  of  having  Inherited  a  contempt  for 
manual  labor  and  an  excessive  vanity  which  finds 
expression  in  silver  spurs  and  brilliantly  colored 
ponchos.  His  territory  Is  rapidly  being  invaded 
by  hard-working  Italians,  more  desirable  because 
more  dependable. 

Near  Juramento  the  country  grows  more  arid  and 
desolate.  A  few  scrubby  mimosa  trees,  sheltering 
the  white  tents  of  railway  engineers,  offered  but  lit- 
tle welcome  to  intending  settlers. 

Just  at  dark  we  reached  Guemes,  where  we  were 
obliged  to  change  cars.  The  through  train  from 
Tucuman  goes  west  to  Salta,  the  most  important 
city  of  the  vicinity.  We  arrived  at  Jujuy  shortly 
after  nine  o'clock.  A  score  of  ancient  vehicles  were 
waiting  to  take  us  a  mile  up  into  the  town  to  one  of 
the  three  hotels.  We  went  to  the  Bristol  and  found 


THE  ARGENTINE  HIGHLANDS        73 

it  quite  comfortable  according  to  Spanish-American 
ideas.  That  means  that  the  toilet  facilities  were  ab- 
sent, that  the  room  had  a  tile  floor,  and  that  there 
were  beds  and  chairs. 

In  the  morning  we  got  up  early  enough  to  look  at 
the  town  for  a  few  minutes  before  leaving  on  the 
semi-weekly  train  for  La  Quiaca. 

Jujuy  was  built  by  Spanish  settlers  a  generation 
before  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth,  and  still 
preserves  the  white- walled,  red- tiled-roof  aspect  of 
the  old  Spanish-i\.merican  towns.  Lying  in  a  pleas- 
ant, well-watered  plain,  a  trifle  over  four  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea,  it  is  attractively  surrounded  by 
high  hills.  Beyond  them,  we  caught  glimpses  of 
lofty  barren  mountains,  the  summits  of  the  Andes. 
The  near-by  valleys  were  green,  and  there  is  some 
rainfall  even  in  the  dry  time  of  the  year.  Although 
Jujuy  produces  a  large  amount  of  sub- tropical  fruit, 
it  really  owes  its  importance  to  its  strategical  posi- 
tion on  the  old  trade  route  to  Bolivia.  It  is  the  last 
important  town  on  the  road  because  it  is  the  last 
place  that  enjoys  a  salubrious  situation.  For  cen- 
turies it  has  been  the  natural  resting-place  for  over- 
land travellers. 

In  fact,  these  northwestern  highlands  of  Argen- 
tina, Jujuy,  and  Tucuman,  were  first  settled  by  emi- 
grants from  the  mountains  of  Upper  Peru  now  called 
Bolivia,  of  which  they  form  the  southern  extension. 
Their  political  and  commercial  relations  were  with 
Potosi  and  Lima  rather  than  Buenos  Aires.  The 
great  prosperity  of  the  mining  regions  of  the  lofty 
plateau  created  a  demand  for  provisions  that  could 


74  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

not  be  met  by  the  possibilities  of  agriculture  in  the 
semi-arid  irrigated  valleys  of  southern  Bolivia.  Beef 
and  other  provisions  could  most  easily  be  brought 
from  the  fertile  valleys  near  Tucuman  and  Jujuy. 
The  necessity  for  some  better  animal  than  the  llama, 
to  carry  not  only  freight  but  also  passengers,  caused 
a  demand  for  the  horses  and  mules  which,  raised  on 
the  Argentine  Pampas,  were  brought  here  to  be  put 
into  shape  for  mountain  travel,  and  were  an  impor- 
tant item  in  the  early  fairs. 

When  the  railroad  came,  Jujuy  was  for  many  years 
the  northern  terminus.  This  only  added  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  town,  and  increased  the  reputation 
of  its  annual  fair.  But  with  the  building  of  the  con- 
tinuation to  La  Quiaca,  its  importance  is  bound  to 
decrease.  However,  it  will  always  be  a  favorite  re- 
sort for  Bolivians  seeking  a  refuge  from  the  rigors 
of  their  Thibetan  climate.  We  met  many  families 
in  southern  Bolivia  who  had  at  one  time  or  another 
passed  the  winter  season  here. 

Before  leaving  the  Bristol  we  succeeded  in  getting 
eggs  and  coffee  only  with  considerable  difficulty  as 
the  train  was  due  to  leave  at  seven  o'clock,  and  the 
average  Spanish-American  traveller  is  quite  willing 
to  start  off  on  a  long  day's  journey  without  even  a 
cup  of  coffee  if  he  can  be  sure  of  something  substan- 
tial about  ten  or  eleven  o'clock. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  station,  we  found  a  scene 
of  great  confusion.  The  line  had  been  running  only 
a  few  months,  and  many  of  the  intending  passengers 
were  not  accustomed  to  the  ways  of  railroads.  An 
official,  and  his  family  of  three,  had  spread  himself 


THE  ARGENTINE  HIGHLANDS       75 

over  one  half  of  the  car,  with  bags,  bird-cages,  bun- 
dles, rolls,  and  potted  plants.  He  filled  so  many 
seats  with  his  impedimenta  that  several  of  the  passen- 
gers had  to  stand  up,  although  that  did  not  worry 
him  in  the  least.  Had  we  known  how  much  luggage 
belonged  to  him,  we  should  have  dumped  it  on  the 
floor  and  had  a  more  comfortable  ride,  but  unfor- 
tunately we  did  not  discover  how  greatly  he  had  im- 
posed on  everybody  until  the  end  of  the  day. 

From  Jujuy  the  train  climbs  slowly  through  a 
valley  toward  a  wonderful  vista  of  great  mountains. 
At  6000  feet  the  verdure  disappeared,  the  grass  be- 
came brown,  and  on  the  barren  mountains  a  few 
sheep  and  goats  were  trying  to  pick  up  a  living. 

The  railway  had  a  hard  time  overcoming  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  first  part  of  the  way.  The  grade  is  so 
steep  that  for  some  distance  a  cog  road  was  found 
to  be  necessary.  In  the  first  one  hundred  and  four- 
teen miles,  the  line  climbs  up  8000  feet  to  an  altitude 
of  over  12,000  feet  above  sea-level. 

Notwithstanding  the  newness  of  the  road  and  the 
steepness  of  the  grade,  we  carried  with  us  an  excel- 
lent little  restaurant  car  that  gave  us  two  very  good 
meals  before  we  reached  La  Quiaca. 

The  cog  railway  begins  at  Leon  at  an  altitude  of 
5300  feet  and  continues  to  Volcan,  rising  1500  feet 
in  a  distance  of  eight  miles.  At  Volcan  there  is  sup- 
posed to  be  a  mud  volcano,  but,  as  was  pointed  out 
some  years  ago  by  Mr.  O'Driscoll  in  the  "Geograph- 
ical Journal,"  there  is  no  volcano  at  all.  It  is  simply 
a  mud  avalanche,  that  comes  down  after  unusually 
heavy  rains  from  the  rapidly  disintegrating  hillside. 


76  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Although  not  a  volcano,  it  Is  nevertheless  a  difficult 
problem  for  the  engineers.  It  has  already  com- 
pletely submerged  a  mile  or  two  of  track  more  than 
once. 

This  Is  on  the  line  of  the  proposed  Pan-American 
railway  from  New  York  to  Buenos  Aires.  With  a 
sufficiently  vivid  imagination,  one  can  picture  a  New 
Yorker  of  the  year  1950  being  detained  here  by  a 
mud-slide  which  will  have  put  the  tracks  over  which 
he  proposes  to  travel  two  or  three  feet  under  ground. 
It  it  to  be  hoped  that  he  will  not  be  obliged  to  stay 
at  the  local  inn  where  Edmund  Temple  stopped  on 
his  journey  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Potosi.  Temple 
was  aroused  in  the  middle  of  the  night  by  a  noise 
under  his  bed  as  if  of  a  struggle  between  two  ani- 
mals. To  his  astonishment  (and  to  that  of  the  reader 
of  his  charming  volumes)  he  "discovered,  by  the  light 
of  the  moon,  a  cat  eating  the  head  of  a  viper  which 
she  had  just  subdued:  a  common  occurrence  I  was 
informed,  and  without  any  ill  consequences  to  the 
cat,  however  venomous  the  snake!" 

Some  effort  had  been  made  to  plant  a  few  trees  In 
the  sandy,  rocky  soil  around  the  station  of  Volcan, 
which  is  not  far  from  the  mud-slide.  They  seemed, 
however,  to  be  having  a  hard  time  of  it,  although,  at 
a  ranch  near  by,  quite  a  grove  of  eucalyptus  trees 
had  been  successfully  raised  by  means  of  irrigation. 
The  mountains  round  about  are  very  barren  and 
gave  evidence  of  being  rapidly  wasted  away  by 
erosion,  their  summits  assuming  many  fantastic 
forms. 

Twenty  miles  beyond  Volcan  Is  Maimard,  where 


THE  ARGENTINE  HIGHLANDS        77 

there  was  further  evidence  of  irrigation  in  the  valley, 
the  trees  and  green  fruits  being  in  marked  contrast 
to  the  barren  hillsides. 

As  the  road  ascends,  the  country  becomes  more 
and  more  arid.  Cactus  is  common.  Sometimes  it  is 
used  as  a  hedge ;  at  other  times,  by  being  planted  on 
the  top  of  a  mud-fence,  it  answers  the  same  purpose 
as  a  barbed  wire. 

Great  barren  mountains  on  each  side  continue  for 
mile  after  mile,  making  the  scenery  unspeakably 
dreary.  Judging  by  the  northward  inclination  of  the 
cactus  and  the  trees,  the  prevailing  wind  is  from  the 
south. 

Some  of  the  valley  is  irrigated,  but  there  is  little 
sign  of  life  anywhere.  Nothing  grows  without  irriga- 
tion. In  the  days  before  the  railway  it  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  have  alfalfa  and  other  animal 
fodder  grown  near  the  post-houses  that  supplied 
travellers  and  freight-carriers  with  shelter  at  night. 
This  business  has",  of  course,  fallen  off  very  much  in 
the  past  few  months,  yet  just  before  reaching  Hu- 
mahuaca  we  stopped  at  Uquia,  where  enough  hay  is 
still  raised  to  make  it  worth  while  to  bale  it  and 
ship  it  north  to  the  barren  plateau  beyond. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  we  saw  a  group  of  llamas, 
but  they  are  not  at  all  common  in  this  region. 

At  Tres  Cruces,  1052  miles  from  Buenos  Aires,  we 
reached  our  highest  elevation,  something  over  12,000 
feet.  It  was  a  dreary  spot  with  scarcely  anything  in 
sight  except  barren  mountains,  the  two  wire  fences 
that  everlastingly  line  the  railroad  tracks,  and  the 
mud-walled    railroad  station.    The  Httle   "hotel" 


78  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

looked  like  an  abandoned  adobe  dwelling  in  Arizona, 
and  the  region  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  un- 
irrigated  part  of  our  new  southwest.  Erosion  has 
cut  the  hillsides  into  interesting  sections  of  shallow 
gulches  and  semi-cylindrical  slopes.  The  only  green 
things  to  be  seen  are  occasional  clumps  of  bushes  like 
sage-brush. 

From  here  to  La  Quiaca,  sixty  miles,  we  main- 
tained about  the  same  altitude,  although  La  Quiaca 
itself  is  500  feet  lower  than  Tres  Cruces.  We  had,  in 
fact,  surmounted  the  great  plateau  of  the  Andes. 
South  of  us  lay  the  desert  of  Atacama ;  to  the  north 
the  arid  valleys  of  southern  Bolivia  and  the  Bolivian 
tableland.  East  of  us,  beyond  many  intervening 
ranges  and  the  steep  slopes  of  the  eastern  Andes,  lay 
the  Gran  Chaco  of  Bolivia  and  the  valley  of  the  lower 
Pilcomayo  with  its  wild  Indian  tribes  and  its  trop- 
ical forests.  To  the  west  lay  the  still  higher  Andes  of 
the  great  Cordillera,  some  of  whose  peaks  rise  at  this 
point  to  an  altitude  of  twenty  thousand  feet.  Not- 
withstanding these  interesting  surroundings,  the  ex- 
treme bareness  of  this  desolate  region  reacts  on  one's 
enthusiasm. 

We  reached  La  Quiaca  just  before  nine  o'clock. 
The  railroad  offices  were  still  incomplete,  as  the  line 
had  only  been  opened  to  traffic  for  a  month  or  two. 
The  old  town  of  La  Quiaca,  a  small  mud-walled  af- 
fair two  miles  away  from  the  railroad  station,  is  des- 
tined soon  to  be  deserted  for  the  thriving  young  set- 
tlement that  is  springing  up  near  the  terminus  of  the 
railway.  There  are  two  "hotels."  Ours,  the  25  de 
Mayo,  had  only  just  been  opened.   In  fact,  its  ex- 


THE  ARGENTINE  HIGHLANDS        79 

tenor  walls  had  not  yet  received  their  proper  coat  of 
whitewash  and  stucco. 

All  day  long  we  had  been  travelling  through  an  ex- 
tremely sparsely  populated  region,  so  dry,  high,  and 
inhospitable  as  to  dispel  any  idea  that  this  railroad 
can  rely  upon  it  for  much  traffic.  In  fact,  the  line 
was  built  by  the  Argentine  Government,  not  so 
much  to  open  up  this  part  of  the  Republic  as  to 
tap  the  mining  region  of  southern  Bolivia,  with 
the  idea  of  developing  Argentina's  foreign  com- 
merce by  securing  in  Bolivia  a  good  market  for 
her  food-stuffs  and  bringing  back  in  return  ore 
to  be  shipped  to  Europe  from  the  ports  of  the 
Parana. 

An  agreement  was  entered  into  between  Argen- 
tina and  Bolivia  whereby  Bolivia  was  to  extend  her 
system  of  national  railways  southeast  from  Oruro 
to  Potosi  and  thence  due  south  to  Tupiza,  fifty  miles 
north  of  the  Argentine  boundary.  The  Argentinos 
on  their  part  agreed  to  continue  their  railway  north 
from  Jujuy  to  Tupiza.  By  the  time  they  reached  La 
Quiaca,  however,  the  English  Company  that  owns 
the  rich  Oruro-Antofagasta  line  became  alarmed  lest 
such  an  arrangement  as  was  proposed  would  inter- 
fere with  their  profits.  By  some  means  or  other,  the 
Bolivian  government  was  persuaded  to  change  its 
plans  and  decide  to  build  the  national  railways  so  as 
to  connect  with  the  Antofagasta  line  rather  than  with 
the  Argentine  lines.  This  breach  of  faith  on  the  part 
of  the  Bolivianos  was  naturajly  resented  not  only  in 
Argentina  but  also  by  the  southern  Bolivianos  them- 
selves who  would  be  much  more  benefited  by  hav- 


8o  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ing  good  connections  with  Buenos  Aires  than  with 
the  Chilean  seaboard. 

As  a  result  of  this  difficulty,  the  Argentinos,  at  the 
time  of  my  visit,  had  not  carried  their  railway  be- 
yond the  frontier.  This  makes  La  Quiaca  the  out- 
fitting point  for  mule-trains  that  now  start  here 
with  merchandise  destined  for  the  cities  of  southern 
Bolivia. 

A  stage-line  has  been  opened,  running  once  a  week 
to  Tupiza,  where  it  connects  with  stages  for  Uyuni 
on  the  Antofagasta  line  and  Potosi.  This  stage-line 
was  owned  and  operated  by  that  same  energetic 
Scotchman,  Don  Santiago  Hutcheon,  who  used  to 
run  stages  between  La  Paz  and  Oruro  before  the 
completion  of  the  Bolivia  Railway.  By  great  good 
fortune,  we  found  him  in  La  Quiaca  where  he  had  ar- 
rived that  day  on  one  of  his  own  stages. 


I 


CHAPTER  VII 

ACROSS   THE   BOLIVIAN   FRONTIER 

SOON  after  our  arrival  at  La  Quiaca,  at  9  P.  M.  on 
November  15,  1908,  we  received  a  call  from  two 
rough-looking  Anglo-Saxons  who  told  us  hair-raising 
stories  of  the  dangers  of  the  Bolivian  roads  where 
highway  robbers  driven  out  of  the  United  States  by 
the  force  of  law  and  order  and  hounded  to  death  all 
over  the  world  by  Pinkerton  detectives,  had  found 
a  pleasant  resting-place  in  which  to  pursue  their 
chosen  occupation  without  let  or  hindrance.  We 
found  out  afterwards  that  one  of  our  informants  was 
one  of  this  same  gang  of  robbers.  Either  he  decided 
that  we  were  disposed  to  regard  his  "  pals  "  in  a  suffi- 
ciently lenient  manner  to  make  our  presence  in  Boli- 
via immaterial  to  them,  or  else  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  we  had  nothing  worth  stealing,  for  we 
were  allowed  to  proceed  peaceably  and  without  any 
annoyance  wherever  we  journeyed  in  Bolivia.  He 
put  the  case  quite  emphatically  to  us  that  it  was 
necessary  for  them  to  make  a  living,  that  they  were 
not  allowed  to  do  so  peaceably  in  the  States,  that 
they  desired  only  to  be  let  alone  and  had  no  intention 
of  troubling  travellers  except  those  that  sought  to  get 
information  against  them.  They  relied  entirely  for 
their  support  on  being  able  to  overcome  armed  es- 
corts accompanying  loads  of  cash  going  to  the  mines 


82  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

to  liquidate  the  monthly  payroll.  This  they  claimed 
was  legitimate  plunder  taken  In  fair  fight.  The  only 
individuals  who  had  to  suffer  at  their  hands  were 
those  who  took  up  the  case  against  them.  Having 
laid  this  down  for  our  edification,  he  proceeded  to 
tell  us  what  a  reckless  lot  they  were  and  how  famous 
had  been  their  crimes,  at  the  same  time  assuring  us 
that  they  were  all  very  decent  fellows  and  quite 
pleasant  companions.  Don  Santiago,  who  in  his  ca- 
pacity as  coach-master  and  stage-driver,  has  had  to 
carry  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  in  cash  over 
the  unprotected  Bolivian  highv/ays,  assured  us  that 
he  had  never  been  molested  by  any  of  these  high- 
waymen because  he  never  troubled  them  in  any  way 
either  by  carrying  arms  or  spreading  information  of 
their  doings.  If  the  Bolivian  bandits  are  half  as  bad 
as  they  were  painted  to  us  that  night,  Don  Santiago 
must  lead  a  charmed  life  for  he  and  his  stages  cer- 
tainly offer  an  easy  mark  for  any  enterprising  out- 
law. 

The  view  from  our  hotel  the  next  morning  across 
the  sandy  plaza  of  La  Quiaca  was  anything  but  in- 
spiring. The  plateau  is  so  high  and  dry  that  nothing 
grows  here.  Even  the  mountains,  whose  tops  are 
really  higher  than  our  own  far-famed  Pike's  Peak, 
look  stunted  like  low  sand-hills.  Partly  finished 
adobe  houses,  which  were  gradually  meeting  the  de- 
mands of  the  newly-born  commercial  life  of  La  Qui- 
aca add  to  the  forlorn  and  desolate  appearance  of 
everything.  There  was  nothing  to  make  us  wish  to 
stay  any  longer  In  Argentina,  and  we  eagerly  wel- 
comed Don  Santiago  and  his  eight-mule  team  that 


ACROSS  THE  BOLIVIAN  FRONTIER     83 

rattled  up  to  the  door  a  few  minutes  after  six 
o'clock. 

A  quarter  of  a  mile  north  of  the  town  we  crossed 
the  frontier  and  entered  Bolivia.  For  the  next  four 
hours  there  was  little  in  the  landscape  to  relieve  the 
monotony  of  the  journey.  As  those  who  are  familiar 
with  stage  travel  know  to  their  cost,  bumping  over 
rough  roads  of  stone  or  sand,  in  a  cloud  of  dust  with 
nothing  to  see  on  either  side  except  a  brown,  treeless, 
rolling  plateau,  is  not  exciting.  Nevertheless  the 
process  of  keeping  eight  mules  on  the  go,  up  hill  and 
down  hill,  is  never  absolutely  devoid  of  interest.  As 
it  was  quite  impossible  for  the  driver  to  reach  the 
foremost  mules  with  his  long  whip,  he  employed  a 
strong-lunged  boy  to  race  alongside  of  the  mules, 
pelt  them  with  stones,  curse  them  in  his  worst  Span- 
ish, and  frighten  them  into  frantic  activity  with  the 
lash  of  a  short-handled  whip  which  he  laid  on  with 
no  delicate  hand.  The  mules  became  so  afraid  of  his 
mad  rushes  that  when  they  heard  him  coming  they 
bolted  in  the  opposite  direction,  sometimes  pulling 
the  stage-coach  a  rod  or  two  off  the  road. 

In  a  rarefied  atmosphere  that  would  almost  kill  a 
foreigner  who  should  try  to  run  any  distance,  the  In- 
dian boy  only  found  it  necessary  to  take  short  rests 
on  the  running-board  of  the  coach,  and  even  then  he 
had  breath  enough  left  to  keep  up  shrill  whistling 
and  loud  shouting  so  as  to  make  the  mules  remem- 
ber his  presence.  If  he  stopped  this  continuous  per- 
formance he  heard  from  the  driver  in  no  uncertain 
language.  The  result  was  that,  notwithstanding  the 
primitive  cart-track,  the  stage  was  able  to  make  the 


84  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

sixty  miles  between  La  Quiaca  and  Tupiza  in  twelve 
hours.  To  be  sure,  there  are  two  changes  of  mules 
and  the  luggage  is  carried  on  a  separate  wagon.  But 
the  road  is  as  bad  as  it  possibly  can  be.  So  much  of 
it  is  in  the  bed  of  a  stream,  the  coaches  can  only  run 
in  the  dry  season,  May  to  November.  In  the  rainy 
season  the  road  disappears  under  swollen  rivers  and 
resort  has  to  be  had  to  saddle  and  pack  animals. 

In  this  extremely  arid  region  the  business  of  feed- 
ing the  mules  is  a  most  difficult  one.  The  rainfall  is 
very  slight.  It  is  only  by  irrigation  that  fodder  will 
grow  at  all.  The  ground  is  not  sterile  but  it  is  so  dry 
and  parched  that  it  does  not  look  as  if  it  would  ever 
grow  anything.  The  Indians  in  the  vicinity  are 
Quichuas,  who  speak  the  same  language  as  did  their 
former  masters,  the  Incas.  They  are  a  patient  race 
with  little  ambition  and  few  wants.  This  does  not  pre- 
vent them,  however,  from  charging  all  the  traffic  will 
bear  when  any  one  desires  to  purchase  alfalfa  or 
barley  straw  for  his  mules.  Don  Santiago  told  me 
that  he  had  once  been  obliged  to  pay  as  high  as  forty 
dollars,  gold,  for  enough  fodder  to  give  an  eight-mule 
team  a  proper  luncheon.  Needless  to  say,  transpor- 
tation is  expensive.  The  coach-fare  from  La  Quiaca 
to  Tupiza  was  ten  dollars,  about  sixteen  cents  a 
mile.  A  charge  of  two  cents  a  pound  is  made  for 
luggage.    None  is  carried  free. 

Our  first  stop  was  at  Mojo,  to  change  mules  and 
eat  a  "breakfast"  which  consisted  of  the  customary 
highly-spiced  mutton  and  potatoes.  We  were  not 
"favored  by  the  addition  of  an  excellent  roasted 
guinea  pig  "  as  was  Edmond  Temple  when  he  stopped 


ACROSS  THE  BOLIVIAN  FRONTIER     85 

here  in  1826.  Yet  guinea-pigs  are  still  common  here- 
abouts and  we  saw  several  on  the  road. 

Mojo  is  a  village  of  four  hundred  inhal)itants. 
There  is  a  small  branch  office  of  the  Bolivian  cus- 
toms service  here  which  is  supposed  to  look  after 
travellers  and  their  baggage.  The  principal  custom 
house  for  southern  Bolivia  is  at  Tupiza,  a  much  more 
agreeable  spot  for  the  residence  of  the  officials  and 
a  natural  distributing  point  for  the  region. 

A  short  distance  from  Mojo  we  began  an  abrupt 
descent.  In  one  place  the  hill  was  too  steep  to  per- 
mit the  road  to  make  a  proper  turn,  so  we  all  had  to 
get  out  and  help  lift  the  stage-coach  around  a  "switch 
back."  After  this  tortuous  zigzag  we  came  out  on  a 
broad  plain  over  which  we  passed  without  difficulty 
to  the  banks  of  the  river  Suipacha. 

The  water  was  low  and  the  cart-track  attempted 
to  steer  a  straight  course  up  stream.  But  as  the 
shrunken  current  meandered  over  the  sandy  river- 
bed, we  were  obliged  to  ford  it  every  three  or  four 
minutes.  This  entailed  constant  difficulties,  for  the 
leading  mules  would  invariably  stop  to  walk  as  soon 
as  they  entered  the  water,  while  the  others  trotted 
briskly  in  and  tangled  up  the  whole  team.  Perhaps 
the  fault  was  mine,  for  I  was  having  my  first  expe- 
rience in  driving  an  eight-in-hand,  and  the  hard- 
mouthed  mules  took  particular  delight  in  giving  me 
a  bad  time.  Notwithstanding  our  difficulties,  we 
reached  Suipacha  on  time,  and  stopped  to  change 
mules. 

This  valley  was  the  scene  of  one  of  the  earliest  vic- 
tories of  the  patriots  in  1 810  at  the  beginning  of  the 


86  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

wars  of  independence.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
after  the  glorious  25th  of  May,  recently  celebrated 
in  Buenos  Aires,  the  Argentinos  attempted  to  free 
the  province  of  Upper  Peru  from  Spanish  control. 
The  result  of  the  victory  of  Suipacha  was  to  cause 
the  Bolivians  to  rise  and  join  the  Argentinos  against 
their  oppressors.  The  patriot  army  marched  joy- 
ously northward  across  the  plateau,  although  the 
Argentinos  suffered  greatly  from  the  cold  and  the 
high  altitude.  When  they  reached  the  southern  end 
of  Lake  Titicaca,  the  Spanish  army,  augmented  by 
hundreds  of  obedient  Quichuas,  attacked  the  pa- 
triots and  practically  annihilated  them. 

Suipacha  itself,  situated  on  a  slight  elevation 
above  the  banks  of  the  river,  looks  like  all  the  other 
small  villages  of  this  arid  region.  Plenty  of  sand  and 
stones,  a  few  mud-walled  hovels,  some  thorny  scrub, 
here  and  there  an  irrigation  ditch  and  a  green  field, 
and  on  every  side  barren  mountains,  A  favorite 
form  of  fence  here  is  a  wall  of  adobe  blocks, 
adorned  with  cactus  or  thorny  mimosa  branches. 

Suipacha  is  said  to  have  six  hundred  inhabitants 
but  it  did  not  seem  to  be  any  larger  than  Mojo. 
From  here  a  road  goes  east  to  the  important  city  of 
Tarija,  a  pleasant,  fertile  town  in  southeastern  Boli- 
via that  enjoys  a  charming  climate,  and  has  often 
served  as  a  city  of  refuge  for  defeated  Argentine  poli- 
ticians who  are  glad  enough  to  escape  to  such  a  land 
of  corn  and  wine  after  unsuccessful  revolutions  on 
the  dreary  pampas. 

The  road  to  Tupiza  took  us  northwest,  and  con- 
tinued to  follow  the  bed  of  the  Suipacha  or  Estarca, 


**    .'         1 


-'ti*- 


Am:^ 


THE   "ANGOSTA   DE   TUPIZA" 


ACROSS  THE  BOLIVIAN  FRONTIER     87 

and  one  of  its  tributaries.  In  the  valley  were  several 
farms  or  fincas  as  they  are  called  here,  where  small 
crops  are  raised  by  irrigation.  Half-way  from  Sui- 
pacha  to  Tupiza  we  passed  through  a  magnificent 
rocky  gateway  called  the  Angosta  de  Tupiza.  Cliffs 
five  hundred  feet  high  rise  abruptly  on  each  side  of 
the  river,  leaving  barely  room  enough  for  the  road 
even  in  dry  weather.  For  a  distance  of  seventy  feet, 
the  width  is  less  than  thirty  feet.  Beyond  the  gate 
the  mountains  form  a  spacious  amphitheatre.  Dur- 
ing the  rainy  season,  from  November  to  March,  it  is 
frequently  impossible  to  pass  through  this  gorge, 
even  on  good  saddle-mules.  Fortunately  for  us,  the 
rains  had  not  yet  begun,  and  we  had  no  difficulty. 

We  reached  Tupiza,  a  town  of  about  two  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  just  at  six  o'clock.  It  is  only  ten 
thousand  feet  above  sea-level,  nearly  two  thousand 
feet  lower  than  La  Quiaca,  and  is  prettily  situated 
in  a  plain  less  than  a  mile  in  width,  that  in  this  re- 
gion may  fairly  be  called  fertile,  so  great  is  the  con- 
trast with  the  surrounding  desert.  Good  use  has 
been  made  of  the  water  in  the  little  stream,  and  there 
are  many  cultivated  fields  and  trees  in  the  vicinity. 

The  plaza  is  quite  an  oasis  in  the  wilderness.  It  is 
carefully  cultivated  and  the  shrubbery  and  willow 
trees  make  it  a  delightful  spot.  Around  the  plaza 
are  a  few  kerosene  oil  street-lamps  on  top  of  wooden 
poles  set  in  stone  foundations.  The  white  tower  of 
a  new  church  rises  above  the  trees  and  makes  a  good 
landmark.  Near  by  is  the  large  two-story  ware- 
house belonging  to  the  Bolivian  government  and 
used  as  a  post-office  and  custom  house. 


88  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

In  the  early  '8o's,  before  the  construction  of  the 
Antofagasta  railway,  most  of  the  commerce  of  South- 
ern Bolivia  passed  through  Tupiza  and  the  custom 
house  had  more  importance  than  it  has  now.  To- 
day it  has  less  than  a  tenth  of  its  former  business. 
With  the  completion  of  the  railway  to  La  Quiaca 
and  its  contemplated  projection  to  Tupiza,  however, 
the  local  revenue  business  is  bound  to  increase. 

Even  at  the  time  of  my  visit  (November,  1908), 
the  street  in  front  of  the  custom  house  was  blocked 
by  scores  of  bales  and  boxes  recently  arrived  from 
La  Quiaca  and  awaiting  examination  prior  to  being 
shipped  north  to  Potosi  on  the  backs  of  mules. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  plaza  was  a  branch  of 
the  National  Bank  of  Bolivia.  Here  we  found  that 
the  Bolivian  dollar  or  peso  is  worth  about  forty  cents 
in  our  money. 

The  common  currency  consists  of  banknotes  rang- 
ing from  one  to  twenty  pesos  in  value.  These  de- 
pend entirely  for  their  value  upon  the  solvency  of 
the  bank  of  issue.  Several  banks  have  failed,  and  the 
Indians  are  very  particular  what  bills  they  accept. 
They  dislike  the  bills  of  banks  that  have  no  agencies 
in  the  vicinity  and  prefer  the  bills  of  the  National 
Bank  of  Francisco  Argondano. 

The  nickel  subsidiary  coinage  Is  usually  genuine 
and  is  in  great  demand,  but  the  smaller  silver  coins 
are  frequently  either  counterfeit  or  so  badly  made 
that  they  do  not  ring  true  and  are  not  accepted  by 
the  Indians  with  whom  one  has  most  to  do  on  the 
road.  Consequently  it  is  the  common  practice  to 
tear  bills  in  two  when  change  cannot  be  made  in  any 


ACROSS  THE  BOLIVIAN  FRONTIER     89 

other  way.  The  result  Is  that  perfect  bills  are  grow- 
ing scarce  and  the  expense  of  issuing  new  ones  is  be- 
ing felt  by  the  banks.  Several  times  when  cashing 
checks  at  branches  of  these  banks,  I  was  paid  en- 
tirely in  half  bills.  They  are  accepted  in  almost  all 
parts  of  Bolivia  but  are  at  a  discount  in  La  Paz  and 
are  not  received  at  all  in  some  localities. 

We  are  told  that  the  scarcity  of  subsidiary  coinage, 
and  the  relative  frequency  of  counterfeit  money,  is 
due  to  the  native  habit  of  burying  all  coins  of  real 
value  lest  they  fall  into  the  hands  of  unscrupulous 
officials  and  rapacious  soldiers.  Since  time  imme- 
morial, enormous  quantities  of  articles  made  of  the 
precious  metals  have  been  burled  by  the  Indians. 

Tupiza  was  the  scene  in  18 19  of  one  of  those  in- 
effectual skirmishes  In  which  the  unaided  Bolivian 
patriots  endeavored  to  secure  their  independence. 
In  fact,  this  old  trade-route  from  the  Pampas  to  Po- 
tosi  was  the  scene  of  numerous  engagements  during 
the  Wars  of  Independence. 

There  are  two  hotels  in  Tupiza,  one  of  them  being 
the  headquarters  of  that  section  of  the  Bolivian  army 
which  Is  stationed  here  to  guard  the  frontier.  The 
other  Is  more  commonly  resorted  to  by  travellers. 
Our  Inn,  the  Grand  Hotel  Terminus,  a  long,  low 
building  once  white- washed,  with  a  courtyard  paved 
with  cobblestones  and  a  few  bedrooms  opening  into 
the  court,  was  run  by  an  amiable  rascal  who  I  believe 
claimed  to  be  an  Austrian.  However  that  may  be, 
he  belonged  to  the  type  that  believes  In  charging  for- 
eigners double  the  regular  tariff.  "For  one  roast 
fowl,  $2.00,  a  bottle  of  vIchy,  $1.25,  one  bottle  of 


90  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

German  beer,  $i.oo,  half  pint  of  Apollinaris,  $40." 
We  were  not  able  to  get  any  discount.  Instead  of 
fighting  our  own  battles  we  foolishly  referred  the 
matter  to  Don  Santiago  who  lives  at  the  hotel,  has 
his  office  here,  and  depends  upon  the  hotel  proprietor 
for  a  number  of  favors.  Our  request  naturally  put 
him  in  an  embarrassing  situation,  and  all  he  could 
say  was  that  the  charges  seemed  to  him  to  be  regular. 
The  proprietor  appeared  to  be  drunk  most"  of  the 
time,  but  he  was  not  too  drunk  to  charge  up  all 
drinks  to  his  American  guests. 

There  is  a  club  here  which  was  not  In  a  very  pros- 
perous^condition  at  the  time  of  my  visit.  This  may 
have  been  due  to  a  patriotic  celebration  that  had 
taken  place  a  fortnight  before.  At  that  time  a  little 
poetical  drama,  reminiscent  of  the  first  conflict  for 
independence  in  18 10,  was  played  in  the  club-rooms. 
The  drama,  written  by  a  local  poet,  was  dedicated  to 
Seiior  Aramayo,  the  Maecenas  of  Tupiza,  a  member 
of  the  wealthiest  family  of  southern  Bolivia,  and  the 
owner  of  several  rich  silver  mines  and  a  large  im- 
porting warehouse. 

The  shops  of  Tupiza  were  not  brilliantly  lighted 
although  they  contained  quite  an  assortment  of  arti- 
cles of  European  origin.  The  trade  which  they  ap- 
peal to  is  that  of  the  mule-drivers,  the  arrieros,  who 
congregate  here  while  their  cargoes  are  being  in- 
spected by  the  revenue  officers.  The  Indians  of  the 
vicinity,  whose  money  comes  chiefly  from  the  pro- 
duct of  their  irrigation  ditches,  have  little  to  spend. 
•  Tupiza  boasts  two  newspapers;  one  of  them  a  bi- 
weekly, now  in  its  third  year,  and  the  other  a  literary 


ACROSS  THE   BOLIVIAN  FRONTIER     91 

weekly  that  had  recently  been  started  by  the  author 
of  the  poetical  drama  just  alluded  to.  The  weekly 
refers  to  the  celebration  in  most  flattering  terms. 
"Undoubtedly  social  life  in  Tupiza  had  increased  so 
far  that  it  is  high  time  to  commence  to  notice  its 
faults  and  deficiencies.  These  could  easily  be  re- 
moved with  proper  enthusiasm  and  good  will.  Tu- 
piza is  a  centre  of  social  culture,  but  unfortunately 
it  is  not  yet  able  to  appreciate  such  worthy  theatri- 
cal spectacles  as  have  recently  taken  place!" 


CHAPTER  VIII 

TUPIZA   TO    COTAGAITA 

E  found  that  the  BoHvian  government  had 
recently  subsidized  a  weekly  stage  Hne  from 
Tupiza  to  Uyuni  on  the  Antofagasta  railway  and  an- 
other from  Tupiza  to  Potosi,  our  next  objective 
point.  The  fare  to  Potosi  is  twenty-two  dollars, 
and  the  journey  takes  only  four  days.  But  we  had 
enough  of  being  shaken  to  pieces  in  a  stage-coach, 
and  decided  we  could  see  the  country  better  and 
be  more  independent  if  we  used  saddle  mules. 

Two  weeks  before  our  arrival  a  couple  of  bandits, 
one  of  whom  had  been  hunted  out  of  Arizona  by 
Pinkerton  detectives,  had  held  up  a  cart  containing 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  on  its  way  to  pay  off  the 
laborers  in  a  large  mine.  The  owners,  wealthy  Boli- 
vians, immediately  offered  a  large  reward  for  the  cap- 
ture of  the  bandits,  dead  or  alive,  notwithstanding 
that  the  robbers  and  their  friends,  of  whom  there 
seemed  to  be  a  score  or  more,  let  it  be  carefully 
understood  that  they  would  take  a  definite  revenge 
for  any  lives  that  might  be  lost  in  pursuit  of  the 
highwaymen.  This  did  not  deter  the  mine  owners, 
however,  and  a  party  of  fifty  Bolivian  soldiers 
went  on  the  trail  of  the  robbers,  who  were  found 
lunching  in  an  Indian  hut.  They  had  carelessly  left 
their  mules  and  rifles  several  yards  away  from  the 


TUPIZA  TO   COTAGAITA  93 

door  of  the  hut  and  were  unable  to  escape.  After  a 
fight,  in  which  three  or  four  of  the  soldiers  were  killed 
and  as  many  more  wounded,  the  thatch  roof  of  the 
hut  was  set  on  fire  and  the  bandits  forced  out  into 
the  open  where  they  finally  fell,  each  with  half  a 
dozen  bullets  in  his  body.  Their  mules  were  cap- 
tured and  sold  to  Don  Santiago  who  let  me  have 
one  of  them  for  my  journey.  He  turned  out  to  be  a 
wonderfully  fine  saddle  mule.  When  his  former 
owner  had  had  the  benefit  of  his  fleet  legs  and  his 
splendid  lungs,  there  was  no  question  of  his  being 
caught  by  the  Bolivian  soldiery. 

In  that  part  of  the  Andes  where  one  is  following 
the  usual  trade-routes,  there  are  four  modes  of  trav- 
elling. One  may  purchase  one's  own  animals,  em- 
ploy servants  to  attend  to  them,  and  sell  them  for  a 
song  at  the  end  of  the  journey.  This  is  the  most  ex- 
pensive, the  most  satisfactory,  and  the  surest  method 
of  travel,  provided  always  that  one  succeeds  in  get- 
ting a  reliable,  well-recommended  arriero.  A  care- 
less arriero  will  soon  drive  you  to  despair  and  allow 
your  mules  to  get  into  a  state  of  semi-starvation  and 
sore  back  that  will  speedily  destroy  their  usefulness. 
The  second  method  is  to  hire  a  professional  carrier 
who,  for  a  stipulated  sum  of  money,  will  provide  you 
with  animals,  go  along  with  them,  feed  and  care  for 
them,  and  get  you  to  your  destination  as  speedily  as 
possible.  If  your  sole  object  is  speed,  this  method  is 
even  surer  than  the  first,  for  owing  to  the  high  price 
of  fodder  in  the  post-houses,  the  contractor  may  be 
relied  upon  to  push  the  caravan  forward  as  speedily 
as  possible.  The  third  method  is  by  far  the  least  ex- 


94  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

pensive,  the  most  troublesome,  and  the  least  certain. 
This  is  to  depend  on  the  mules  that  are  supposed  to 
be  in  readiness  for  travellers  at  the  post-houses.  We 
frequently  amused  ourselves  on  our  journey  by  im- 
agining what  we  could  possibly  have  done  had  we 
attempted  to  rely  on  this  last  method.  Repeatedly 
we  reached  post-houses  where  there  was  not  a  mule 
to  be  seen,  or  where  the  two  or  three  that  were  there, 
were  drearily  hanging  their  melancholy  heads  In  the 
corral,  so  worn  out  and  broken  down  as  to  convince 
us  of  their  inability  to  carry  even  an  ordinary  load 
at  anything  faster  than  a  slow  walk.  The  traveller 
who  trusts  to  post-house  mules  rarely  remembers 
much  of  the  scenery  or  the  nature  of  the  country. 
His  chief  impression  is  that  of  unfortunate  mules 
continually  being  beaten  in  order  to  reach  the  next 
post  before  dark.  The  fourth  method,  and  the  one 
we  decided  to  adopt,  Is  to  hire  from  a  reputable 
contractor  a  number  of  his  best  mules  and  one  of  his 
most  trusted  arrieros  at  so  much  per  day.  In  this 
way,  you  are  not  hurried  faster  than  you  want  to  go, 
the  mules  are  sure  to  be  well  cared  for,  and  the  dis- 
comforts of  mountain  travel  are  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. Except  on  a  long  journey,  it  Is  not  as  expensive 
as  buying  one's  own  animals  and  is  less  risky. 
I*>  Thanks  to  the  energy  of  Don  Santiago,  the  neces- 
sary mules  and  provisions  were  ready  In  two  days. 
On  his  suggestion,  we  took  with  us  as  arrtero,  one 
Mac,  a  wandering  Scotchman  who  had  seen  service 
in  the  Boer  War,  had  drifted  thence  to  Argentina, 
and  was  now  trying  his  luck  In  southern  Bolivia.  He 
seemed  just  the  sort  of  person  to  make  a  good  orderly, 


TUPIZA  TO  COTAGAITA  95 

and  we  thought  we  were  quite  fortunate  in  securing 
his  services.  Relying  on  his  past  experience,  we  told 
him  to  purchase  such  provisions  as  were  necessary 
for  the  next  five  days.  He  proceeded  to  purchase 
four  dozen  hard-boiled  eggs  and  three  roast  fowls. 
These  he  packed  carelessly  in  my  leather  saddle-bags, 
together  with  a  bottle  of  Eno's  fruit  salts  of  which 
he  was  very  fond.  The  expected  happened.  The 
eggs  were  reduced  to  an  unrecognizable  mass,  the 
bottle  of  fruit  salts  was  broken  and  the  contents  well 
rubbed  into  the  chicken,  so  that  our  fare  for  the 
next  two  or  three  days  was  not  much  above  the 
ordinary. 

We  left  Tupiza  on  a  bright,  clear  morning  and  rode 
northward  through  a  semi-arid  region  where  we  were 
continually  reminded  of  Utah  and  southern  Colo- 
rado. For  two  leagues  we  saw  no  house  and  met 
no  one.  The  floor  of  the  valley  was  broad  and  flat, 
covered  with  sand  and  pebbles,  and  occasionally 
intersected  by  small  irrigating  ditches.  Almost  the 
only  green  things  were  cactus  and  mimosa  trees. 
Barren  hills  that  appear  to  be  crumbling  rapidly 
away  rose  abruptly  on  each  side.  In  some  places, 
the  eroded  hillside  took  the  form  of  chim- 
neys, ruined  factories,  or  even  forts.  In  others 
erosion  had  produced  fantastic  pinnacles,  and 
often  the  buttressed  hills  looked  very  much  like 
cathedrals. 

About  nine  o'clock  we  met  a  Quichua  family,  the 
wife  carrying  the  baby  and  spinning,  the  man  carry- 
ing his  wooden  plough  on  his  shoulder  and  driving 
his  oxen  to  an  irrigated  field  where  he  proposed  to  do 


96  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

his  spring  ploughing.  His  wife  had  on  as  many 
gaudy-colored  petticoats  as  she  could  afford.  Such 
is  the  fashion  of  the  country. 

Near  one  of  the  irrigating  ditches  under  the 
shadow  of  the  buttressed  walls  of  the  caiion,  we  came 
upon  a  hundred  mules.  Some  of  them  were  carry- 
ing huge  packing-cases,  large  enough  to  hold  the 
entire  body  of  the  patient  mule,  provided  of  course 
that  it  were  properly  cut  up  and  the  extremities 
shortened.  In  general  the  pack-mules  were  fine, 
large  animals,  well  able  to  carry  their  three-hundred- 
pound  loads.  With  such  a  caravan  as  this  go  a 
dozen  arrieros  who  rise  each  day  three  hours  before 
dawn  and  commence  the  everlasting  task  of  saddling 
and  loading.  When  this  is  done,  the  men  eat  a 
hearty  breakfast,  prepared  in  the  meantime  by  one 
of  their  number,  and  then  start  out  for  an  eight- 
hour  march.  About  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
or  earlier,  if  they  have  by  that  time  reached  a  suit- 
able camping-place,  the  caravan  stops  and  unload- 
ing begins,  which  is  finished  barely  in  time  to  give 
the  men  a  few  hours  of  slumber  before  the  whole 
process  has  to  be  repeated. 

Fortunately,  most  of  these  cases  of  merchandise 
were  packed  in  Germany  where  they  know  how  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  South  American  mountain 
travel,  and  although  the  great  wooden  boxes  were 
banged  against  projecting  rocks  by  the  roadside  and 
often  allowed  to  fall  with  a  crash  when  the  saddle- 
ropes  were  untied  at  the  end  of  the  day,  the  contents 
were  practically  sure  to  reach  their  destination  in 
good  condition. 


TUPIZA  TO  COTAGAITA  97 

At  noon  we  came  to  a  group  of  freshly  white- 
washed adobe  farm  buildings,  the  property  of  an  ab- 
sentee landlord.  Here  we  were  able  to  purchase 
green  fodder  for  the  mules,  and  luncheon,  in  the 
shape  of  very  hot  soup  and  tea,  for  ourselves.  In  one 
of  the  buildings  was  a  district  school  with  six  or  eight 
pupils,  the  scholars  evincing  their  studiousness  by 
learning  their  lessons  out  loud.  The  resultant  noise 
would  considerably  jar  on  the  ear  of  a  highly  strung 
New  England  "schoolmarm,"  but  the  good-natured 
Bolivian  teacher  did  not  know  that  he  had  any 
nerves,  and  only  wanted  to  be  sure  that  all  his  pupils 
were  busy. 

After  lunch  our  road  continued  up  the  same  arid 
valley  past  flocks  of  goats  that  strove  to  get  a  living 
from  the  low-hanging  branches  of  the  mimosa  trees. 
Some  of  the  more  adventurous  had  even  gone  up 
into  the  trees  to  secure  a  meal. 

In  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  we  climbed  out  of 
one  valley  and  looked  down  into  another.  From  the 
pass  we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  valley  through  which 
we  had  come.  The  prevailing  color  was  brown  with 
here  and  there  a  touch  of  dusty  green.  All  around 
there  was  a  confusion  of  barren  hills  and  arid  moun- 
tains without  a  single  evidence  of  human  habitation. 
The  only  sign  of  life  was  the  long  line  of  the  mule 
caravan  which  we  had  passed  earlier  in  the  day.  The 
country  is  so  unfitted  for  the  habitation  of  man 
that  the  general  effect  of  this  and  of  most  of  the 
scenery  in  southern  Bolivia  is  oppressive  and  dis- 
piriting. 

Shortly  before  sunset,  however,  we  came  to  a  beau- 


98  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

tiful  spring  called  the  "Eye  of  the  Water,"  which 
bubbled  up  by  the  roadside  and  flowed  off  into  care- 
fully guarded  irrigating  ditches.  As  was  to  be  ex- 
pected, there  was  a  small  Indian  village  in  the  vi- 
cinity. The  villagers  were  Quichuas,  wearing  small 
felt  hats,  scanty  shirts,  and  short  loose  pantaloons 
made  of  what  seemed  to  be  homespun  cloth.  It  was 
rather  attractive  in  appearance,  and  as  it  had  the  ro- 
mantic flavor  of  being  made  here  by  the  Indians,  we 
were  inclined  to  purchase  some  until  we  discovered 
that  it  was  only  "imitation"  and  was  made  in  great 
quantities  in  Manchester,  England.  These  Qui- 
chuas are  a  humble  folk,  excessively  polite  to  each 
other,  doffing  their  hats  whenever  they  meet.  Both 
men  and  women  wore  their  hair  in  long  braids  down 
their  backs. 

The  little  village  sprawled  up  the  side  of  the  canon 
just  out  of  reach  of  the  floods  which  occasionally 
pour  through  this  valley  in  the  rainy  season.  In  one 
of  the  huts  a  kind  of  spring  carnival  was  being  cele- 
brated with  a  reasonable  amount  of  drinking.  Sol- 
emn singing  and  a  monotonous  tom-tomming  of  a 
primitive  drum  were  the  only  signs  of  gaiety  except 
a  few  bright  flowers  which  they  had  gathered  some- 
where and  put  in  their  hair.  As  no  rain  was  to  be 
expected  and  the  village  had  the  usual  component 
of  filth  and  insects,  we  set  up  our  folding  cots  in  the 
dry  bed  of  the  stream.  The  elevation  was  about  ten 
thousand  feet.  The  stars  were  very  brilliant.  The 
night  was  cool,  the  minimum  temperature  being  47° 
P.,  a  drop  of  forty  degrees  from  the  afternoon's  maxi- 
mum. 


TUPIZA  TO  COTAGAITA  99 

The  next  morning,  after  a  breakfast  of  cold  chicken 
and  Eno's  fruit  salts,  all  that  our  Boer  War  veteran 
could  provide  for  our  comfort,  we  pushed  up  the  val- 
ley, and  before  long  reached  Totora,  a  typical  Boli- 
vian poste  or  tambo.  It  consisted  of  a  small  inclos- 
ure  surrounded  by  half  a  dozen  low  mud-huts  with- 
out windows.  In  one  of  these  was  kept  alfalfa  fodder 
to  be  sold  to  passing  travellers.  In  another  lived  the 
keeper  of  the  poste  and  his  family.  Here  also  was  a 
fire  from  which  one  had  the  right  to  demand  hot 
water,  the  only  thing  furnished  for  the  comfort  of 
humans.  In  another,  two  or  three  well-baked 
mounds  of  earth,  flattened  on  top,  were  intended  for 
beds.  A  roof,  an  earth  floor,  and  a  wooden  door  were 
the  only  other  conveniences  at  the  disposition  of 
travellers. 

These  pastes,  more  or  less  dirty  and  uncomfort- 
able, may  usually  be  found  on  the  well-travelled 
roads  in  southern  Bolivia  at  a  distance  varying  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  miles  from  each  other.  They 
are  not  picturesque,  but  after  some  little  experience 
in  travelling  in  that  desolate  region,  one  learns  to 
welcome  the  little  collection  of  mud-huts,  with  pos- 
sibly a  green  spot  or  two  of  alfalfa,  as  a  perfect  haven 
of  rest.  To  be  sure,  the  only  thing  to  eat  is  the  food 
you  bring  with  you,  but  you  may  be  always  certain 
of  having  hot  water,  and  your  arriero  (unless  he  hap- 
pens to  be  a  veteran  of  the  Boer  War)  will  bring  you 
a  cup  of  excellent  tea  within  twenty  minutes  after 
your  arrival. 

The  road  from  Totora  continued  to  be  the  rocky 
floor  of  a  valley  in  which  from  time  to  time  little 


100  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

streams  of  water  or  Irrigation  ditches  appeared,  only 
to  lose  themselves  in  fields  of  alfalfa  or  quinoa.  Dur- 
ing the  dry  season  carts  attempt  to  use  this  road,  and 
we  overtook  a  dozen  of  them  on  their  way  north. 
Each  cart  was  drawn  by  six  mules  driven  three 
abreast  by  a  driver  who  rode  postillion  on  the  nigh 
mule  nearest  the  cart.  Before  noon  we  climbed  out 
of  this  valley  and  descended  Into  a  rocky,  sandy 
plain  through  which  flowed  the  river  Cotagaita  on 
its  way  eastward  to  join  the  great  Pilcomayo.  At 
this  time  of  the  year,  the  latter  part  of  November, 
the  river  is  a  broad,  shallow  stream,  easily  fordable. 
On  sandy  bars  left  dry  by  the  receding  waters  were 
cam.ped  caravans  of  pack-mules  and  carts.  Beyond 
them  lay  the  little  town  of  Cotagaita,  where  the  Ar- 
gentine patriots  were  badly  defeated  in  1816.  This 
place  is,  in  a  sense,  the  crossroads  of  southern  Bolivia 
and  is  one  of  the  main  stations  of  Don  Santiago's 
stage-lines.  Uyuni,  on  the  Antofagasta  railway,  is 
one  hundred  and  fifteen  miles  west  of  here,  three  or 
four  days  by  stage.  The  mines  of  Potosi  are  nearly 
the  same  distance  north.  Camargo,  the  capital  of 
the  province  of  CInti,  Is  a  few  days  due  east,  while 
Tupiza  Is  fifty-four  miles  due  south.  There  are  sev- 
eral routes  from  Tupiza  to  Uyuni  but  the  most  im- 
portant and  the  only  one  practicable  for  coaches  is 
by  way  of  Cotagaita.  The  road  is  new  and  said  to 
be  very  uncomfortable.  There  is  not  much  to  Inter- 
est the  traveller,  except  a  few  mines.  Not  far  away 
is  Chorolque,  a  famous  silver  mine,  at  an  altitude 
of  over  seventeen  thousand  feet. 

The  town  of  Cotagaita  is  an  old  Spanish  settle- 


TUPIZA  TO  COTAGAITA  loi 

ment  with  the  customary  plaza,  a  few  trees,  a  foun- 
tain in  the  centre  and  a  church  on  one  side;  one  story 
white-washed  houses  built  of  baked  mud,  the  usual 
narrow  streets  crossing  each  other  at  right  angles, 
their  stone  paving  sloping  toward  the  centre  where 
a  ditch  does  duty  as  a  sewer;  a  few  Indians  and  a  few 
shops  to  minister  to  their  wants.  There  are  said  to 
be  twelve  hundred  inhabitants  but  I  doubt  it.  The 
elevation  is  slightly  lower  than  Tupiza. 

We  left  Cotagaita  after  lunch,  hoping  to  make  the 
tambo  at  Escara  before  dark,  but  we  were  des- 
tined to  disappointment.  Mac,  our  Scotch  arriero, 
had  decided  that  the  pack-mules,  which  Don  San- 
tiago selected  for  us  at  Tupiza,  were  not  good  enough 
to  stand  the  march  to  Potosi,  so  he  requested  the 
coach  agent  here  to  give  us  two  better  animals.  The 
latter  allowed  our  veteran  to  go  into  the  corral  and 
take  any  mules  he  pleased.  Rich  in  knowledge  of 
the  Boer  War,  but  poor  in  experience  with  Bolivian 
mules,  he  picked  out  two  strong-looking  beasts  that 
had  been  driven  in  the  stage-coach  but  had  never 
carried  a  pack  in  their  lives.  After  being  blindfolded 
they  were  saddled,  with  some  difficulty,  and  we  were 
about  to  start  when  it  was  discovered  that  one  of 
them  lacked  a  shoe  on  its  nigh  hind-foot.  The  black- 
smith, a  half-drunk,  strongly  built  Indian,  was  sum- 
moned. He  brought  a  new  shoe,  a  few  nails,  and  a 
hammer  out  into  the  street.  The  blindfolded  mule 
was  held  by  Mac  while  an  Indian  tied  the  foot  that 
was  to  be  shod  securely  to  the  mule's  tail.  Then  the 
blacksmith  went  to  work.  No  attempt  was  made  to 
fit  the  shoe,  and  when  the  second  nail  was  driven,  the 


102  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

mule  kicked  and  struggled  so  violently  as  to  throw 
itself  and  all  three  men  in  a  heap  in  the  middle  of 
the  road.  Finally,  after  much  tribulation,  the  shoe 
was  securely  fastened,  and  amid  the  cheers  of  the 
populace,  we  started  briskly  off  for  Potosi. 

The  new  pack-mules,  lacking  all  road  sense  and 
missing  the  bridle,  promptly  ran  away.  One  of  them 
was  secured  without  much  difficulty,  but  the  other 
one  went  up  the  hillside  through  a  grove  of  young 
mimosa  trees  which  attempted  to  detain  the  load 
with  their  thorny  branches.  They  only  succeeded 
in  partly  dislodging  it,  however,  and  the  mule  con- 
tinued his  headlong  career  until  his  load  turned  com- 
pletely under  him,  tripped  him  up,  and  ended  by 
rolling  him  down-hill.  Fortunately  the  dunnage 
bags  were  new  and  no  great  harm  was  done.  Mac 
insisted  that  he  could  drive  this  mule  as  well  as  any 
other  —  which  may  have  been  true  —  so  the  poor 
coach-mule  was  reloaded.  Then  four  of  us  tried  for 
over  an  hour  to  make  the  two  wretched  animals 
carry  their  packs  properly  and  stick  to  the  road  as 
pack-animals  should.  But  they  declined  to  enter 
our  service,  and  we  were  obliged  to  send  them  back 
to  Cotagalta,  minus  their  loads.  Meanwhile  the 
two  mules  which  Mac  had  so  thoughtfully  discarded 
at  lunch  time  were  reengaged.  The  exhibition  was 
useful,  for  It  showed  us  that  Mac  knew  even  less 
about  saddling  pack-animals  than  we  did  and  was 
perfectly  useless  in  an  emergency.  Fortunately,  an 
excellent  fellow,  a  brother  of  Don  Santiago,  became 
our  dens  ex  machina,  helped  us  out  of  our  difficulty, 
and  promised  to  join  us  the  next  morning  with  a  new 


TUPIZA  TO   COTAGAITA  103 

arriero.  By  hard  riding  we  arrived  at  the  little  tambo 
of  Escara  an  hour  after  dark  and  had  some  difficulty 
in  securing  admittance.  No  one  has  any  business  to 
travel  at  night  in  this  country,  unless  bent  on 
mischief. 


CHAPTER   IX 

ESCARA   TO   LAJA  TAMBO 

WE  got  Up  early  enough  the  next  morning  to 
witness  a  phase  of  Bolivian  life  which  we 
had  heard  of  but  had  not  as  yet  seen.  An  officer  and 
two  soldiers  of  the  Bolivian  army,  travelling  south- 
ward, had  spent  the  night  at  Escara  and  desired  to 
proceed  promptly.  The  pastes  are  subsidized  by  the 
Government  on  the  understanding  that  all  travelling 
government  officials  shall  be  furnished  with  mules 
and  a  man.  Each  paste  has  three  or  four  guides  called 
postilions,  connected  with  it.  This  morning  things 
did  not  move  fast  enough  to  suit  the  officer.  The 
mules  were  not  ready  when  he  wanted  to  start  and 
the  meek  Quichua  postilion  was  offering  an  explana- 
tion. In  the  midst  of  it,  the  officer  lost  his  temper, 
and  taking  his  strong  riding-whip,  commenced  to 
lash  the  poor  half-clad  Indian  across  the  face  and 
shoulders.  The  latter  stood  it  for  a  few  minutes 
stolidly  and  then  commenced  to  back  off,  followed 
by  the  officer  who  continued  to  lay  on  the  blows  as 
fast  as  possible.  At  length  the  postilion  turned  to 
run  and  the  officer  pursued  him,  beating  him  and 
cursing  him  until  out  of  breath.  It  was  a  sickening 
sight,  but  the  strangest  part  of  all  was  the  absolute 
meekness  with  which  the  Indian  took  his  beating. 
There  was  not  the  slightest  sign  of  resentment  or 


ESCARA  TO  LAJA  TAMBO  105 

even  annoyance.  The  strokes  of  the  whip  made  the 
blood  start  and  trickle  down  his  face  and  sides,  but 
he  gave  no  evidence  of  feeling  it. 

Later  in  the  day  at  Quirve,  another  poste,  we 
witnessed  a  similar  exhibition,  only  in  this  case 
the  Indian  did  not  even  run  away.  The  son  of  the 
proprietor,  a  great  hulking  brute,  six  feet  tall  and 
powerfully  built,  found  fault  with  one  of  the  post- 
ilions for  some  trifling  mistake  and  beat  him  across 
the  face  and  chest  with  a  rawhide  thong  until 
the  blood  flowed  freely.  Like  the  other  Indian, 
his  face  remained  perfectly  stolid,  and  he  showed 
no  signs  of  anger  or  irritation. 

We  had  been  furious  with  the  ofiicer  in  the  morn- 
ing and  this  exhibition  was  even  more  trying.  Yet 
the  Bolivianos  thought  nothing  of  it.  As  Mr.  Bryce 
has  so  ably  put  it:  "One  must  have  lived  among  a 
weaker  race  in  order  to  realize  the  kind  of  irritation 
which  its  defects  produce  in  those  who  deal  with  it, 
and  how  temper  and  self-control  are  strained  in  re- 
sisting temptations  to  harsh  or  arbitrary  action.  It 
needs  something  more  than  the  virtue  of  a  philoso- 
pher —  it  needs  the  tenderness  of  a  saint  to  preserve 
the  same  courtesy  and  respect  towards  the  members 
of  a  backward  race  as  are  naturally  extended  to 
equals."  There  is  no  doubt  about  the  Quichuas  be- 
ing a  backward  race. 

From  the  earliest  historical  times  these  poor  In- 
dians have  virtually  been  slaves.  Bred  up  to  look 
upon  subjection  as  their  natural  lot,  they  bear  it  as 
the  dispensation  of  Providence.  The  Incas  treated 
them  well,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  and  took  pains  to 


io6  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

see  that  the  irrigation  works,  the  foot-paths  over  the 
mountains,  the  suspension  bridges  over  the  raging 
torrents  and  tambos  for  the  convenience  of  travel- 
lers, should  all  be  kept  in  good  condition.  The  gold- 
hunting  Spanish  conquistadores,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  no  interest  in  the  servile  Quichuas  further  than 
to  secure  their  services  as  forced  laborers  in  the 
mines.  The  modern  Bolivianos  have  done  little  to 
improve  their  condition. 

After  seeing  these  two  Indians  meekly  take  such 
severe  beatings,  I  found  it  easier  to  understand  why 
Pizarro  had  been  able  to  conquer  the  Empire  of 
Peru  with  a  handful  of  determined  Spanish  soldiers, 
and  why  the  unfortunate  Tupac  Amaru  could  make 
so  little  headway  in  1781  when  he  attempted  to  rouse 
the  Indians  to  revolt  against  Spanish  tyranny.  Al- 
though he  had  sixty  thousand  men  under  him,  the 
Spanish  general  easily  defeated  him  with  barely 
twenty  thousand,  of  whom  only  a  few  hundred  were 
Spaniards,  the  majority  being  friendly  Indians. 

How  much  the  extremely  severe  conditions  of  life 
that  prevail  on  this  arid  plateau  have  had  to  do  in 
breaking  the  spirit  of  the  race  is  a  question.  It  is  a 
generally  accepted  fact  that  a  race  who  are  depend- 
ent for  their  living  on  irrigating  ditches,  can  easily 
be  conquered.  All  that  the  invading  army  has  to  do 
is  to  destroy  the  dams,  ruin  the  crops,  and  force  the 
inhabitants  to  face  starvation. 

The  Quichua  shows  few  of  the  traits  which  we  or- 
dinarily connect  with  mountaineers.  His  country  is 
too  forlorn  to  give  him  an  easy  living  or  much  time 
for  thought.   He  is  half  starved  nearly  all  the  time. 


ESCARA  TO  LAJA  TAMBO  107 

His  only  comfort  comes  from  chewing  coca  leaves. 
Coca  is  the  plant  from  which  we  extract  cocaine.  It 
is  said  that  the  Quichua  can  go  for  days  without 
food,  provided  he  has  a  good  supply  of  coca.  It 
would  be  extremely  interesting  to  determine  the  ef- 
fect on  his  intelligence  of  this  cocaine  habit,  which 
seems  to  be  centuries  old.  If  a  man  can  stand  up 
and  take  severe  punishment  for  trivial  offences  with- 
out getting  angry,  showing  vexation,  or  apparently 
without  bearing  any  grudge  against  his  oppressor, 
there  must  be  something  constitutionally  wrong 
with  him.  I  believe  that  the  coca  habit  is  answerable 
for  a  large  part  of  this  very  unsatisfactory  state  of 
affairs.  Coca  has  deadened  his  sensibilities  to  a  de- 
gree that  passes  comprehension.  It  has  made  him 
stupid,  willing  to  submit  to  almost  any  injury,  lack- 
ing in  all  ambition,  caring  for  almost  none  of  the 
things  which  we  consider  the  natural  desires  of  the 
human  heart. 

In  travelling  through  Bolivia  and  Peru,  I  found  it 
repeatedly  to  be  the  case  that  the  Quichua  does  not 
care  to  sell  for  money  either  food  or  lodging.  Pres- 
ents of  coca  leaves  and  tobacco  are  acceptable.  A 
liberal  offer  of  money  rarely  moves  him,  although  it 
would  be  possible  for  him  to  purchase  with  it  many 
articles  of  necessity  or  comfort  in  near-by  towns.  As 
a  rule  he  prefers  neither  to  rent  his  animal,  nor  sell 
you  cheese  or  eggs,  or  anything  else.  The  first  Qui- 
chua words  one  learns,  and  the  answer  which  one 
most  commonly  receives  to  all  questions  as  to  the 
existence  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  is  "mana  canca,'' 
"there  is  none." 


io8  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

This  condition  of  affairs  is  not  new.  When  Tem- 
ple travelled  through  Bolivia  in  1825,  he  was  struck 
by  the  prevailing  ''no  hay  nada"  (there  is  nothing 
at  all).  Poverty,  want,  misery,  and  negligence  are 
the  story  that  is  told  by  the  melancholy  phrase.  The 
truth  is,  the  Quichua  not  only  has  no  ambition,  he 
has  long  ago  ceased  to  care  whether  you  or  he  or  any- 
body else  has  more  than  just  barely  enough  to  keep 
body  and  soul  together. 

Needless  to  say,  the  Quichuas  have  no  concern 
with  the  politics  of  Bolivia,  although  they  constitute 
a  large  majority  of  the  inhabitants. 

From  Escara  our  road  continued  to  follow  a  semi- 
arid  valley.  We  passed  a  caravan  of  mule-carts 
bound  for  Potosi  and  Sucre.  In  one  of  the  carts 
was  an  upright  piano;  in  another,  pieces  of  mining 
machinery,  while  still  others  contained  large  cast- 
iron  pipes  destined  for  Sucre's  new  waterworks. 
Nearly  all  of  the  carts  carried  bales  of  Argentine  hay 
as  this  region  is  so  arid  that  it  is  extremely  difficult 
to  secure  any  fodder  for  the  animals,  and  the  barley 
or  alfalfa,  when  procurable,  is  often  too  expensive. 

The  weather  continued  to  be  fine.  After  a  hot, 
dusty  ride  of  twenty  miles,  we  stopped  at  the  poste 
of  Quirve. 

Just  before  reaching  Quirve,  we  crossed  the  Tu- 
musla  River,  the  site  of  the  last  battle  of  the  Bolivian 
wars  of  independence.  After  Sucre's  great  victory 
at  Ayacucho,  in  1824,  the  only  Spanish  troops  which 
remained  unconquered  in  all  South  America  were 
the  garrison  of  Callao  and  a  small  band  under  Gen- 
eral Ollaneta  in  southern  Bolivia.   His  men  were 


ESCARA  TO  LAJA  TAMBO  109 

badly  disaffected  by  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Ayacu- 
cho,  and  an  officer  who  commanded  a  small  garrison 
at  this  strategic  point,  came  out  openly  for  the  pa- 
triotic cause.  Ollaneta  tried  in  vain  to  suppress  the 
revolt.  The  result  was  a  battle  here  on  the  first  of 
April,  1825,  in  which  the  Spanish  general  was  de- 
feated and  slain.  The  garrison  of  Callao  held  out  for 
a  few  months  longer,  but  this  was  the  end  of  active 
warfare. 

We  found  the  tamho  of  Quirve  to  be  of  the  most 
primitive  sort,  not  even  affording  shelter  for  man  or 
beast.  The  weekly  Potosi  stage-coach  came  in  from 
the  north  about  six  o'clock  carrying  one  passenger. 
He  soon  spread  his  bed  under  the  wagon  and  made 
himself  comfortable  for  the  night.  The  luggage 
from  Potosi  was  shipped  on  pack-animals  and  was 
in  charge  of  an  Argentine  Gaucho  named  Fermin 
Chaile.  This  man  we  took  in  exchange  for  Mac, 
whom  we  were  glad  enough  to  get  rid  of.  Fermin,  the 
Gaucho,  tall  and  gaunt,  round-shouldered  and  bow- 
legged,  his  dark  Mongolian-like  features  crowned 
by  a  mop  of  coarse,  black  hair,  proved  to  be  a  god- 
send. His  loose-fitting  suit  of  brown  corduroys,  far 
better  raiment  than  most  arrieros  can  afford,  bore 
witness  to  the  fact  that  he  was  sober,  industrious, 
and  trustworthy.  No  one  ever  had  a  better  mule- 
teer. Like  Rafael  Rivas,  the  faithful  Venezuelan 
peon  who  had  guided  my  cart  across  the  Llanos  in 
1907,  he  took  excellent  care  of  the  mules,  yet  drove 
them  almost  to  the  limit  of  their  endurance,  was  de- 
voted to  us,  and  proved  to  be  reliable  and  attentive. 
He  was  a  plainsman,  as  different  in  spirit  and  achieve- 


no  ACROSS   SOUTH  AMERICA 

ment  from  the  wretched  mountaineers  through 
whose  country  we  were  passing,  as  though  he  had  be- 
longed to  a  different  continent. 

As  we  continued  northward  from  Quirve,  the  val- 
ley grew  narrower  and  our  road  continued  to  be  in 
the  dry  river  course.  All  the  water  that  was  visible 
was  collected  in  little  ditches  and  conducted  along 
the  hillsides  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  above  the  bed  of 
the  stream.  On  some  of  the  hillsides  of  this  valley 
are  terraces  or  andines  where  maize,  quinoa,  pota- 
toes, and  even  grapes  are  made  to  grow,  with  much 
painstaking  labor.  These  terraces,  common  enough 
farther  north,  were  the  first  we  had  seen.  The  sta- 
ple food  of  the  Indians  is  chuno,  a  small  potato  that 
has  been  put  through  a  freezing  process  until  its  nat- 
ural flavor  is  completely  lost.  One  of  the  principal 
dishes  at  this  time  of  the  year  is  the  fruit  of  the  cac- 
tus. Everybody  seems  to  be  very  fond  of  the  broad- 
leaved  edible  species,  a  thornless  variety  of  which 
we  are  developing  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico. 

Farther  up  the  valley  I  was  struck  by  the  inge- 
nuity which  had  been  exercised  in  carrying  the  irri- 
gation ditches  along  the  side  of  precipitous  cliffs. 
Numerous  little  tunnels,  connected  by  small  via- 
ducts, enabled  a  tiny  stream  of  water  to  travel  three 
or  four  miles  until  It  reached  a  level  space  sufficiently 
above  highwater  mark  to  warrant  the  planting  of  a 
small  field.  The  only  animals  to  be  seen  beside  mules 
and  horses,  goats,  pigs,  dogs,  and  a  very  few  birds, 
were  the  little  wild  guinea-pigs  of  a  color  closely  re- 
sembling the  everlasting  brown  hills.  I  was  sur- 
prised not  to  see  any  llamas. 


ESCARA  TO  LAJA  TAMBO  in 

Soon  after  leaving  Quirve,  we  came  to  the  little 
village  of  Toropalca,  in  every  way  as  brown  and 
dusty  as  the  guinea-pigs.  In  fact,  it  melted  into  the 
landscape  as  perfectly  as  they  did. 

About  noon  we  reached  another  hillside  village, 
Saropalca,  its  houses  placed  so  closely  one  above 
another  on  the  steep  slope  as  to  give  the  appearance 
of  a  giant  stairway.  We  climbed  up  through  the 
irregular  lanes  of  the  little  village,  until  we  found  a 
wretched  little  tambo  where  we  bought  a  few  bun- 
dles of  alfalfa  and  a  bowl  of  soup. 

Whenever  we  could  secure  sufficient  alfalfa  for  the 
mules  and  a  bowl  of  hot  chupe  for  ourselves  in  addi- 
tion to  the  customary  pot  of  hot  water  for  our  tea, 
we  considered  ourselves  most  fortunate  and  were 
willing  to  admit  that  the  poste  was  well  provided 
with  "all  the  necessaries  of  life."  Chupe  is  a  kind  of 
stew  or  thick  soup  consisting  of  frozen  potatoes  and 
tough  mutton  or  llama  meat.  In  its  natural  state, 
its  taste  is  disagreeable  enough,  but  when  it  is  served 
to  the  liking  of  the  natives  it  is  seasoned  so  highly 
with  red  pepper  as  to  be  far  too  fiery  for  foreign  pal- 
ates. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  the  valley  nar- 
rowed to  a  gorge  in  which  we  passed  more  heavily- 
laden  mule-carts  making  their  way  along  with  the 
utmost  difficulty.  Beyond  the  gorge  we  found  sul- 
phur springs  and  some  banks  of  sulphur.  One  of  the 
hot  springs  gushed  up  close  by  the  roadside.  "El 
Lazarillo,"  the  eighteenth  century  Baedeker,  says 
there  was  once  a  "modest  thermal  establishment" 
here,  intended  to  attract  bathers  from  Potosi. 


112  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

At  the  end  of  the  day  we  reached  Caisa,  after  hav- 
ing made  nearly  forty  miles  since  morning.  Caisa  is 
an  old  Spanish  town  and  looks  like  all  the  rest.  One- 
story  houses,  narrow  streets,  badly  paved,  a  city 
block  left  open  for  a  plaza,  on  one  side  of  it  a  church 
and  the  house  of  the  priest,  on  the  other  three  sides, 
a  few  shops  where  we  bought  newly-baked  hot  bread, 
beer,  cheese,  and  candles.  The  tambo  was  called  "La 
Libertad"  and  bore  the  legend  ''  Muy  barato"  (very 
cheap) .  We  surmised  this  meant  that  the  proprietor 
would  charge  all  the  traffic  would  bear;  and  such 
proved  to  be  the  case.  In  fact,  we  had  a  very  dis- 
agreeable dispute  with  the  landlady  the  next  morn- 
ing. Fermin  indignantly  declared  she  had  tripled 
the  usual  prices. 

At  Caisa  the  road  from  Argentina  to  Sucre 
branches  off  to  the  right,  going  due  north  to  Puna 
and  thence  to  Yotala,  where  it  joins  the  road  from 
Potosi  to  Sucre. 

Leaving  Caisa  on  November  22,  we  went  north- 
west and  soon  had  our  first  glimpse  of  a  snow-clad 
Bolivian  mountain.  The  snow  was  not  very  deep, 
however,  as  it  had  fallen  during  the  night,  and  be- 
fore noon  it  was  all  gone.  Our  road  crossed  several 
ridges  and  then  descended  into  a  partly  cultivated 
valley  near  an  old  silver  mine  and  a  smelter  called 
Cuchu  Ingenio.  The  road  here  was  unusually  good. 
Even  in  1773  "  The  Blind  Man's  Guide  "  says  it  was 
a  "camino  de  Trote,  y  Galope." 

As  we  ascended  a  gorge,  I  was  attracted  by  a  little 
waterfall  of  crystal  clearness  that  came  tumbling 
down  from  the  heights  above,  and  was  tempted  to 


'^  ^ 


\"  .•'•      *   ^-/ 


'./."••*  ♦* 


ESCARA  TO  LAJA  TAMBO  113 

take  a  hearty  drink  of  the  delicious  cool  liquid.  A 
Boliviano  from  Tupiza,  who  was  travelling  with  us 
for  company,  warned  me  against  such  a  rash  act  as 
drinking  cold  water  at  this  altitude.  I  had  noticed 
that  no  one  in  this  region  ever  touches  cold  water, 
and  I  thought  the  universal  prejudice  against  it  was 
founded  on  a  natural  preference  for  alcohol.  So  I 
laughingly  enjoyed  my  cup  of  cold  water  and  as- 
sured him  that  there  could  be  no  harm  in  it.  An 
hour  later  we  reached  Laja  Tambo,  a  wretched  little 
poste,  standing  alone  on  the  edge  of  a  tableland 
twenty  miles  from  Potosi.  The  altitude  was  about 
thirteen  thousand  feet.  The  sun  had  been  very  warm, 
and  soon  after  alighting  on  the  rough  stone  pavement 
of  the  inn  yard,  I  arranged  the  thermometers  so  as  to 
test  the  difference  in  temperature  between  sun  and 
shade.  The  temperature  in  the  sun  at  noon  v/as 
85°  F.  In  the  shade  it  was  48°  F.  Scarcely  had  I 
taken  the  readings  when  I  began  to  feel  chilly.  Hot 
tea  followed  by  hot  soup  and  still  hotter  brandy  and 
water  failed  to  warm  me,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  I  had  unpacked  my  bag  and  put  on  two  heavy 
sweaters.  A  wretched  sense  of  dizziness  and  of  long- 
ing to  get  warm  made  me  lie  down  on  the  warm 
stones  of  the  courtyard.  I  grew  rapidly  worse,  and 
was  soon  experiencing  the  common  symptoms  of 
soroche,  puna,  or  mountain  sickness.  The  combina- 
tion of  vomiting,  diarrhoea,  and  chillswas  bad  enough, 
but  the  prospect  of  being  ill  in  this  desolate  poste, 
twenty  miles  from  the  nearest  doctor,  with  nothing 
better  than  the  usual  accessories  of  a  Bolivian  tambo, 
was  infinitely  w^orse.    Somehow  or  other,  I  man- 


114  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

aged  to  persuade  Fermin  to  saddle  and  load  the  ani- 
mals and  put  me  on  my  mule,  where  I  was  deter- 
mined to  stay  until  we  should  reach  Potosi. 

The  last  thing  to  do  before  leaving  the  tambo  was 
to  pay  the  bill,  and  this  I  proceeded  to  do  in  the  Boli- 
vian paper  currency  which  I  had  purchased  in  Tu- 
piza.  Alas,  one  of  the  bills  was  on  a  bank  situated 
two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away  in  La  Paz,  a  bank, 
in  fact,  in  which  the  postilion  did  not  have  much 
confidence.  The  idea  of  having  a  servile  Quichua 
postilion  decline  to  receive  good  money  was  extremely 
irritating,  and  I  tried  my  best,  notwithstanding  my 
soroche,  to  force  him  to  take  it.  He  persisted  and  I 
was  obliged  to  find  another  bill  in  my  wallet.  I  sup- 
pose my  hand  trembled  a  little  with  chill  or  excite- 
ment and  in  taking  out  the  bill  I  partly  tore  it. 

This  would  not  have  mattered  had  the  tear  been 
in  the  middle,  but  it  was  nearer  one  end  than  the 
other  and  the  Indian  refused  to  accept  it.  I  had  no 
other  small  bills  and  was  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to 
do.  In  the  meantime,  Fermin  and  the  pack-mules 
had  left  the  inclosure  of  the  tambo  and  started  for 
Potosi  while  Mr.  Smith  was  just  outside  of  the  gate 
waiting  for  me.  So  I  rolled  up  the  sound  bill  which 
the  Indian  had  declined  to  receive,  gave  it  to  him, 
and  while  he  was  investigating  it,  made  a  dash  for 
the  road.  He  was  too  quick  for  me,  however,  and 
gripped  my  bridle.  Exasperated  beyond  measure, 
I  rode  him  against  the  wall  of  the  tambo  and  made 
him  let  go  long  enough  to  allow  me  to  escape.  It 
seemed  on  the  whole  a  lawless  performance,  although 
the  bank-note  was  perfectly  good.    I  fully  expected 


ESCARA  TO  LAJA  TAMBO  115 

that  he  would  follow  us  with  stones  or  something 
worse,  but  as  he  was  only  a  Quichua  he  accepted  the 
inevitable  and  we  saw  no  more  of  him. 

In  the  face  of  a  bitterly  cold  wind  we  crossed  the 
twenty-mile  plateau  that  lies  between  Laja  Tambo 
and  the  famous  city  of  Potosi.  On  the  plain  were 
herds  of  llamas  feeding,  but  these  did  not  interest 
us  as  much  as  the  conical  hill  ahead.  It  was  the 
Cerro  of  Potosi,  the  hill  that  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  was  the  marvel  of  the  world.  No  tale  of 
the  Arabian  Nights,  no  dream  of  Midas,  ever 
equalled  the  riches  that  flowed  from  this  romantic 
cone.  Two  billion  ounces  of  silver  is  the  record  of  its 
output  and  the  tale  is  not  yet  told. 

Rounding  the  eastern  shoulder  of  the  mountain, 
we  passed  several  large  smelters,  some  of  them  aban- 
doned. Near  by  are  the  ruins  of  an  edifice  said  to 
have  been  built  by  the  Spaniards  to  confine  the  poor 
Indians  whom  they  brought  here  by  the  thousands 
to  work  in  the  mines.  The  road  descends  a  little  val- 
ley and  runs  for  a  mile,  past  the  ruins  of  hundreds  of 
buildings.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  Potosi  boasted 
a  population  of  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 
Now  there  are  scarcely  fifteen  thousand.  The  part 
of  the  city  that  is  still  standing  is  near  the  ancient 
plaza,  the  mint,  and  the  market-place. 

Our  caravan  clattered  noisily  down  the  steep, 
stony  streets  until  we  reached  the  doors  of  the  Hotel 
Colon  where  an  attentive  Austrian  landlord  made  us 
welcome,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  one  of  the 
party  was  evidently  quite  ill.  I  could  not  help  won- 
dering whether  an  American   hotel-keeper  would 


ii6  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

have  been  so  willing  to  receive  a  sick  man  as  this  be- 
nighted citizen  of  Potosi.  The  paved  courtyard  was 
small,  but  the  rooms  on  the  second  floor  were  com- 
modious and  so  much  better  than  the  unspeakably 
forlorn  adobe  walls  of  Laja  Tambo,  that  I  felt  quite 
willing  to  retire  from  active  exploration  for  a  day  or 
two.  Fortunately,  I  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  well- 
trained  Bolivian  physician,  who  knew  exactly  what 
to  do,  and  with  his  aid,  and  the  kind  nursing  of  Fer- 
min  and  Mr.  Smith,  I  was  soon  on  my  feet  again. 


\ 


CHAPTER  X 

POTOsi 

WE  had  not  been  in  Potosi  many  hours  before 
we  realized  that  it  was  a  most  fascinating 
place  with  an  atmosphere  all  its  own.  By  the  time 
we  had  been  here  a  week  we  were  ready  to  agree  with 
those  who  call  it  the  most  interesting  city  in  South 
America. 

The  prestige  of  its  former  wealth,  the  evidence  on 
every  side  of  former  Spanish  magnificence,  the  pic- 
turesquely clad  Indians  and  the  troops  of  graceful, 
inquisitive  llamas  in  the  streets,  aroused  to  the  ut- 
most our  curiosity  and  interest. 

Our  first  duty  was  to  call  on  the  Prefect  who  had 
been  expecting  our  arrival  and  was  most  kind  during 
our  entire  stay.  A  Bolivian  prefect  has  almost  un- 
limited power  in  his  department  and  is  directly  re- 
sponsible to  the  President.  His  orders  are  carried 
out  by  the  sub-prefect  who  is  also  chief  of  police  and 
has  a  small  body  of  soldiers  under  his  immediate  con- 
trol. 

We  found  the  Government  House,  or  Prefectura, 
to  be  a  fine  old  building  dating  back  to  colonial  days. 
Probably  the  most  interesting  person  that  has  ever 
occupied  it  was  General  William  Miller,  that  pic- 
turesque British  veteran  who  fought  valiantly 
through  all  the  Peruvian  Wars  of  Independence,  re- 


Ii8  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

celving  so  many  wounds  that  he  was  said  to  have 
been  "honeycombed  with  bullets."  At  the  end  of 
the  wars  he  was  appointed  Prefect  of  Potosi,  and  it 
was  during  his  incumbency  that  the  great  liberator 
Simon  Bolivar  made  his  visit.  There  is  a  vivid  de- 
scription of  it  in  Miller's  **  Memoirs."  When  Bolivar 
arrived  in  sight  of  the  far-famed  mountain,  the  flags 
of  Peru,  Buenos  Aires,  Chile,  and  Colombia  were  un- 
furled on  its  summit.  As  he  entered  the  town,  twenty- 
one  petards  were  exploded  on  the  peak,  an  aerial 
salute  "that  had  a  very  singular  and  imposing  ef- 
fect." "Upon  alighting  at  the  Government  House, 
under  a  grand  triumphal  arch,  decorated  with  flags, 
the  reception  of  His  Excellency  was  according  to  the 
Hispanic-American  taste.  Two  children,  dressed  as 
angels,  were  let  down  from  the  arch  as  he  approached, 
and  each  pronounced  a  short  oration!  Upon  enter- 
ing the  grand  saloon,  six  handsome  women,  repre- 
senting the  fair  sex  of  Potosi,  hailed  the  arrival  of 
His  Excellency,  crowned  him  with  a  wreath  of  laurel, 
and  strewed  flowers,  which  had  been  brought  from  a 
great  distance  for  the  occasion."  This  was  followed 
by  seven  weeks  of  bull-fights,  grand  dinners,  balls, 
fireworks,  illuminations,  and  other  signs  of  public  re- 
joicing, which  would  seem  to  have  surfeited  even  a 
person  so  fond  of  pomp  and  adulation  as  the  great 
liberator. 

Opposite  the  Government  House,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  plaza,  is  a  curious  many-arched  arcade  which 
incloses  a  new  plaza,  the  work  of  an  ambitious  pre- 
fect. The  tall  column  surmounted  by  a  statue,  that 
stands  as  the  only  ornament  in  the  new  plciza,  once 


POTOSI  119 

stood  in  the  centre  of  the  old,  but  was  moved  to  its 
new  position  by  the  Prefect  who  decided  that  his 
work  would  be  incomplete  unless  properly  graced 
by  a  monument. 

On  a  corner  of  the  new  plaza  is  Potosi's  only  book- 
shop. Judging  by  the  stock  in  trade,  the  principal 
customers  are  school  children  and  lawyers.  The 
book  trade  was  dull  when  we  were  there,  but  con- 
siderable interest  was  shown  in  other  departments 
of  the  store  where  toys  and  picture  post  cards  were 
on  sale. 

Near  by  is  the  "University"  where  second-rate 
secondary  instruction  is  given  to  poor  little  boys  who 
sit  on  damp  adobe  seats  in  badly-lighted,  foul-smell- 
ing rooms.  It  was  once  a  convent,  but  the  church 
connected  with  it  has  long  since  been  transformed 
into  a  theatre.  The  only  attractive  thing  about  the 
"University"  is  the  charming  old  convent  garden 
where  rare  old  flowers  still  try  to  bloom. 

Opposite  the  ** University"  is  the  club.  Here 
there  are  billiard  tables  (it  is  really  remarkable  how 
many  billiard  tables  one  finds  scattered  all  over 
South  America,  even  in  the  most  inaccessible  places) 
and  a  bar.  The  custom  of  serving  a  little  felt  mat 
with  each  drink  is  resorted  to,  and  when  a  member 
chooses  to  stand  treat,  he  goes  about  and  gathers  up 
all  the  mats  in  sight  and  takes  them  to  the  bar  where 
he  cashes  them  with  his  own  money,  or  some  that  he 
has  recently  won.  The  bar  was  well  patronized.  And 
no  one  is  to  blame  but  the  climate,  which  is  the  worst 
in  South  America. 

Although  Potosi  is  in  the  Tropics,  the  highest  re- 


120  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

corded  temperature  here  in  the  shade  on  the  hottest 
day  ever  known,  was  59°  F.  The  city  is  nearly  thir- 
teen thousand  five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  al- 
most as  high  as  Pike's  Peak.  Every  afternoon  cold 
winds  sweep  down  through  the  streets  striking  a 
chill  into  one's  very  marrow.  A  temperature  of 
22°  F.  is  not  unknown,  yet  none  of  the  houses  have 
stoves  or  any  appliances  (except  soup)  for  warming 
their  shivering  inhabitants.  As  the  prevailing  tem- 
perature indoors  is  below  50°  F.,  almost  every  one 
wears  coats  and  hats  in  the  house  as  much  as  out- 
doors, or  even  more  so,  for  a  brisk  walk  of  a  block  or 
two  at  this  altitude  makes  one  quite  warm,  and  in 
the  middle  of  the  day  the  sun  is  hot. 

Wherever  we  wandered  in  this  fascinating  city, 
our  eyes  continually  turned  southward  to  the  Cerro, 
the  beautifully  colored  cone  that  raises  itself  fifteen 
hundred  feet  above  the  city.  It  is  impossible  to  de- 
scribe adequately  the  beauty  of  its  colors  and  the 
marvellous  way  in  which  they  change  as  the  sun  sinks 
behind  the  western  Andes.  I  hope  that  some  day  a 
great  painter  will  come  here  and  put  on  canvas  the 
marvellous  hues  of  this  world-renowned  hill.  Pink, 
purple,  lavender,  brown,  gray,  and  yellow  streaks 
make  it  look  as  though  the  gods,  having  finished 
painting  the  universe,  had  used  this  as  a  dumping- 
ground  for  their  surplus  pigments.  In  reality,  the 
hand  of  man  has  had  much  to  do  with  its  present 
variegated  aspect,  for  he  has  been  busily  engaged 
during  the  past  three  hundred  years  in  turning  the 
hill  inside  out.  Much  of  the  most  beautifully  col- 
ored material  has  been  painfully  brought  out  from 


POTOSI  121 

the  very  heart  of  the  hill  through  long  tunnels,  in 
man's  effort  to  get  at  the  rich  veins  of  silver  and  tin 
which  lie  within. 

The  discovery  of  silver  at  Potosi  was  made  by  a 
llama  driver  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. It  was  soon  found  that  the  mountain  was  tra- 
versed by  veins  of  extremely  rich  ore.  After  the  gold 
of  the  Incas  had  been  gathered  up  and  disposed  of, 
Potosi  became  the  most  important  part  of  all  the 
Spanish  possessions  in  America.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  sevententh  century,  when  New  York  and  Bos- 
ton were  still  undreamed  of,  Potosi  was  already  a 
large  and  extremely  wealthy  city.  It  attracted  the 
presence  of  hundreds  of  Spanish  adventurers  includ- 
ing many  grandees.  In  short  it  had  taken  on  all  the 
signs  of  luxury  that  are  common  to  big  mining  camps. 
Grandees  in  sumptuous  apparel  rode  gayly  capari- 
soned horses  up  and  down  the  stony  streets,  bow- 
ing graciously  to  charming  ladies  dressed  in  the  most 
costly  attire  that  newly-gotten  wealth  could  pro- 
cure. On  feast  days,  and  particularly  on  great  na- 
tional holidays,  like  the  King's  birthday,  elaborate 
and  expensive  entertainments  were  given. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  great  expanse  of  ruins  and 
the  very  large  number  of  churches,  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  realize  to-day  that  for  over  a  century  this  was 
the  largest  city  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  The 
routes  which  led  to  the  Bolivian  plateau  became  the 
greatest  thoroughfares  in  America.  Money  flowed 
more  freely  than  water.  In  fact,  the  Spaniards  found 
great  difficulty  during  the  dry  season  in  supplying 
the  city  with  sufficient  water  to  use  in  washing  the 


122  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ore  and  in  meeting  the  ordinary  needs  of  a  large 
population.  Consequently,  they  went  up  into  the 
hills  above  the  city  and  built,  at  great  expense,  a 
score  of  dams  to  hold  back  the  water  that  fell  during 
the  rainy  season  and  preserve  it  for  the  dry. 

Immediately  following  the  Wars  of  Independ- 
ence and  the  consequent  opening  of  the  country  to 
foreign  capital,  a  wild  mining  fever  set  in  among 
London  capitalists.  Greedy  and  ignorant  directors 
took  advantage  of  the  cupidity  of  the  British  public 
to  enrich  themselves,  while  incidentally  working  the 
mines  of  Potosi  with  disproportionately  expensive 
establishments.  So  eager  was  the  public  to  take 
stock  in  Potosi  that  shares  which  at  the  outset  were 
quoted  at  75  or  80,  rose  incredibly  in  the  short  space 
of  six  weeks.  Some  of  them  went  up  above  5000.  As 
was  to  be  expected,  this  speculative  fever  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  panic  which  ruined  not  only  the  stock- 
holders but  those  unfortunates  like  Edmund  Tem- 
ple, who  had  gone  to  Potosi  in  the  employ  of  one  of 
the  wildcat  companies,  and  those  South  Americans 
that  had  honored  their  drafts  on  London. 

Then  followed  a  long  period  of  stagnation.  But 
as  railroads  came  nearer  and  cart-roads  began  to 
multiply,  transportation  became  cheaper  and  new 
enterprises  sprang  up. 

|:  Any  one  is  at  liberty  to  secure  a  license  from  the 
proper  authorities  to  dig  a  mine  in  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  provided  he  does  not  interfere  with  the 
property  of  someone  else.  The  records  show  that 
since  the  Cerro  was  first  discovered  licenses  have 
been  issued  for  over  five  thousand  mines.   It  is  easy 


POTOSI  123 

to  imagine  what  a  vast  underground  labyrinth  ex- 
ists beneath  those  many-colored  slopes.  Most  of 
the  openings,  however,  have  been  closed  by  ava- 
lanches of  refuse  from  mines  higher  up  the  hill. 

One  day  I  was  invited  to  visit  several  new  mines 
that  had  recently  been  opened  by  a  Chilean  Com- 
pany. In  one  mine,  at  an  altitude  of  about  fifteen 
thousand  feet,  I  undertook  to  crawl  into  the  depths 
for  five  hundred  yards  in  order  to  see  a  new  vein  of 
silver  ore  that  had  recently  been  encountered.  The 
exertion  of  getting  in  and  out  again  at  that  altitude 
was  terrific,  yet  the  miners  did  not  appear  to  feel  it. 
They  wear  thick  knitted  caps  which  save  their  heads 
from  the  bumps  and  shield  them  from  falling  rocks. 
Their  knees  are  protected  by  strong  leather  caps. 
Their  feet  they  bind  in  huge  moccasins.  Those  that 
carry  out  the  ore  frequently  wear  leather  aprons  tied 
on  their  backs.  The  workmen  are  a  sordid,  rough- 
looking  lot  who  earn  and  deserve  very  good  wages. 
Sometime  ago  when  tin  was  higher  than  it  is  now,  a 
large  number  of  new  mines  were  opened  and  un- 
heard-of prices  were  paid  for  labor.  Now  that  the 
price  of  tin  has  fallen,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  get 
the  Indians  to  accept  a  lower  scale  of  wages.  Con- 
sequently, most  of  the  new  mines  have  had  to  be 
closed. 

In  the  old  days,  the  tin  was  discarded  as  the  eager 
Spanish  miners  thought  only  of  the  silver.  But  now 
the  richer  veins  of  silver  have  become  exhausted,  and 
although  some  are  being  worked,  most  of  the  activ- 
ity is  confined  to  the  tin  ore.  At  the  top  of  the  cone 
there  is  an  immense  quantity  of  it;  the  only  diffi- 


124  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

culty  is  how  to  get  it  down  to  the  smelters  in  the  val- 
ley between  the  hill  and  the  city.  ' 

In  this  valley  runs  a  small  stream  of  water  that 
comes  from  the  hill  reservoirs.  Attracted  by  its  pre- 
sence, most  of  the  smelters  have  located  themselves 
on  one  side  or  the  other  of  the  little  gorge.  There  are 
innumerable  small  ingenios  worked  by  the  Indians 
in  a  very  primitive  fashion.  Some  of  them  are  scarcely 
more  than  a  family  affair.  Besides  these  there  are 
twenty-eight  large  smelters,  and  all  of  them  devoted 
more  to  tin  than  to  silver.  Not  one  of  these  is  owned 
by  a  Bolivian.  A  few  belong  to  English  capitalists, 
more  to  Chileans,  and  the  largest  of  all  to  a  French- 
man who  has  constructed  an  aerial  railway  to  bring 
the  ore  from  high  up  on  the  mountainside  to  his  fur- 
naces. The  never  ending  line  of  iron  buckets  adds  a 
curiously  modern  note  to  the  ruins  over  which  they 
pass.  Ore  is  also  brought  down  on  the  backs  of  don- 
keys and  llamas.  The  workmen  are  mostly  Quichuas. 
Some  of  them  are  evidently  not  city  bred,  for  they 
dress  with  the  same  pigtails  and  small  clothes  that 
they  wore  when  Spanish  conquistador es  forced  them 
to  take  the  precious  metal  out  of  the  hill  without 
any  thought  of  reward  other  than  the  fact  that  they 
were  likely  to  die  sooner  and  reach  heaven  earlier 
than  if  they  stayed  quietly  at  home.  The  product 
of  this  smelter  is  shipped  both  as  pure  tin  in  ingots 
and  also  as  highly  concentrated  and  refined  ore. 

The  most  picturesque  feature  of  the  valley  was  a 
small  chimney  smoking  lustily  away  all  by  itself, 
high  up  on  the  opposite  hillside,  like  a  young  volcano 
with  a  smoke  stack.   In  order  to  get  a  good  draft  for 


THE   CERRO   OF   POTOSI    FROM   THE    SPANISH    RKSKRVUIRS 


AN    ANCIENT   QUICHUA   ORE   CRUSHER 


POTOSI  125 

the  blast  furnaces,  the  smoke  is  conducted  across  the 
stream  on  a  stone  viaduct,  enters  the  hill  by.a  tunnel, 
and  ascends  a  vertical  shaft  for  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  to  the  chimney  which  then  carries  it  thirty 
feet  further  up  into  the  air.  The  tunnel  does  just  as 
good  work  in  the  way  of  producing  a  draft  as  though 
it  were  a  modern  brick  chimney,  two  hundred  feet 
high,  but  the  effect  is  uncanny,  to  say  the  least. 

We  found  among  the  boarders  at  the  Hotel  Colon 
a  group  of  young  Peruvian  and  Chilean  mining  engi- 
neers who  were  very  congenial.  They  made  the  best 
of  their  voluntary  exile,  and  although  none  of  them 
enjoyed  the  fearful  climatic  conditions,  they  man- 
aged to  make  their  surroundings  quite  tolerable  with 
hard  work,  cheerful  conversation,  birthday  dinners, 
and  social  calls. 

The  courtyard  of  the  hotel  was  a  fine  example  of 
the  prevailing  mixture  of  old  and  new.  The  roof  was 
covered  with  beautiful  large  red  tiles  whose  weight 
had  crushed  down  the  rafters  in  places  so  as  to  pro- 
duce a  wavy  effect.  Meanwhile  the  shaky  old  bal- 
cony that  ran  around  the  court  connecting  the  rooms 
on  the  second  floor,  was  sheltered  from  the  rain  by 
strips  of  corrugated  iron!  The  fine  old  stone-paved 
patio  was  marred  by  a  vile  wainscoting  painted  in 
imitation  of  cheap  oil-cloth.  In  one  corner  stood  a 
little  old-fashioned  stove  where  arrieros,  who  need  to 
make  an  early  start,  cook  their  tea  without  disturb- 
ing the  hotel  servants.  An  archway  running  under 
the  best  bedrooms  of  the  second  floor,  led  out  to  the 
street.  Another  archway  led  in  to  the  filth  of  the 
backyard   where,    amid   indescribable   scenes   and 


126  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

smells,  six-course  dinners  were  prepared  for  our  con- 
sumption. It  was  a  miracle  that  we  did  not  get 
every  disease  in  the  calendar. 

Opposite  the  hotel  was  a  fine  old  building  with  a 
wonderfully  carved  stone  gateway  and  attractive 
iron  balconies  jutting  out  with  stone  supports  from 
each  second-story  window.  It  is  now  the  residence 
and  warehouse  of  one  of  the  largest  importers  in  Bol- 
ivia. Once  it  was  the  abode  of  a  Spanish  marquis. 
The  exquisitely  finished  exterior  bears  witness  to  the 
good  taste  of  its  builder  and  the  riches  and  extrava- 
gance that  once  ran  riot  in  Potosi. 

So  also  do  the  beautiful  towers,  all  that  are  left 
standing  of  the  Jesuit  church.  The  church  itself  has 
disappeared,  but  the  solidly  constructed,  exquisitely 
carved  stone  towers  remain  as  silent  witnesses  to  the 
power  of  that  Christian  order  that  did  most  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  civilization  in  South  America. 

Unquestionably  the  most  picturesque  part  of  Po- 
tosi is  the  market-place  and  the  streets  in  its  im- 
mediate vicinity.  Hither  come  the  miners  and  their 
families  to  spend  their  hard-earned  wages.  Here  can 
be  purchased  all  the  native  articles  of  luxury:  coca, 
chupe,  frozen  potatoes,  parched  corn,  and  chicha  (na- 
tive hard  cider  made  from  anything  that  happens 
to  be  handy).  The  streets  are  lined  with  small  mer- 
chants who  stack  their  wares  on  the  sidewalk  against 
the  walls  of  the  buildings.  There  are  no  carriages 
and  few  horseback  riders,  so  that  one  does  not  mind 
being  crowded  off  the  sidewalks  by  the  picturesque 
booths  of  the  Quichua  merchants. 

In  the  streets  flocks  of  llamas  driven  by  gayly- 


POTOSI  127 

dressed  Indians  add  a  rare  flavor  not  easily  forgot- 
ten. The  llamas  move  noiselessly  only  making  little 
grunts  of  private  conversation  among  themselves; 
quite  haughty,  yet  so  timid  withal,  they  are  easily 
guided  in  droves  of  fifty  by  a  couple  of  diminutive 
Indians. 

To  see  these  ridiculous  animals  stalking  slowly 
along,  looking  inquisitively  at  everyone,  continually 
reminded  me  of  Oliver  Herford's  verses  about  that 
person  in  Boston  who 

"Looked  about  him  with  that  air 
Of  supercilious  despair 
That  very  stuck-up  people  wear 
At  some  society  affair 
When  no  one  in  their  set  is  there." 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  market-place 
every  available  inch  on  each  side  of  the  street  is  used 
by  the  small  tradesmen.  They  are  allowed  to  erect 
canopies  to  protect  their  goods  from  the  sun  and  rain, 
and  the  general  effect  is  not  unlike  a  street  in  Cairo. 
On  one  corner  are  piled  up  bolts  of  foreign  cloth, 
their  owners  squatting  on  the  sidewalk  in  front  of 
them.  On  another  corner,  leaning  against  the  white- 
washed walls  of  a  building,  is  a  native  drug  store. 
The  different  herbs  and  medicines  exposed  for  sale 
in  the  little  cloth  bags  are  cleverly  stacked  up  so  as 
to  show  their  contents  without  allowing  the  medi- 
cines to  mix.  The  most  conspicuous  article  offered 
for  sale  is  coca,  which  is  more  to  the  Quichua  than 
tobacco  is  to  the  rest  of  mankind. 

The  market-place  itself  is  roughly  paved  with  ir- 


128  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

regular  stone  blocks  and  is  surrounded  by  arcades 
where  are  the  more  perishable  European  goods.  The 
vendors  of  Indian  merchandise  squat  on  the  stones 
wherever  they  can  find  a  place  and  spread  out  be- 
fore them  their  wares,  whether  they  consist  of  eggs 
or  pottery,  potatoes  or  sandals. 

It  is  the  custom  to  arrange  the  corn  and  potatoes 
in  little  piles,  each  pile  being  worth  a  real,  about  four 
cents  in  our  money,  the  standard  of  value  in  the  mar- 
ket-place. Under  umbrella-like  shelters  are  gath- 
ered the  purveyors  of  food  and  drink,  their  steaming 
cauldrons  of  chupe  surrounded  by  squatting  Indians 
who  can  thus  get  warmed  and  fed  at  the  same  time. 
[  The  Quichua  garments  are  of  every  possible  hue, 
although  red  predominates.  The  women  dress  in 
innumerable  petticoats  of  many-colored  materials 
and  wear  warm,  heavy,  colored  shawls,  brought  to- 
gether over  the  shoulders  and  secured  with  two  large 
pins,  occasionally  of  handsome  workmanship,  but 
more  often  in  the  shape  of  spoons.  Generally  they 
are  content  with  uninteresting  felt  hats,  but  now  and 
then  one  will  have  a  specimen  of  a  different  design, 
the  principal  material  of  which  is  black  velveteen, 
ornamented  with  red  worsted  and  colored  beads.  On 
their  feet  the  women  usually  wear  the  simplest  kind 
of  rawhide  sandals,  although  when  they  can  afford  it, 
they  affect  an  extraordinary  footgear,  a  sandal  with 
a  French  heel  an  inch  and  a  half  high,  and  shod  with 
a  leather  device  resembling  a  horse  shoe. 

Near  the  market-place  is  an  interesting  old  church, 
its  twin  towers  still  in  good  repair.  Services  are 
rarely  held  here,  and  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that 


POTOSI  129 

we  succeeded  in  finding  the  sexton,  who  finally 
brought  a  large  key  and  allowed  us  to  see  the  histori- 
cal pictures  that  hang  on  the  walls  of  two  of  the 
chapels.  They  are  of  considerable  interest  and  ap- 
peared to  date  from  the  sixteenth  century.  We  com- 
mented on  the  fact  that  a  large  painting  had  re- 
cently been  removed  and  were  regaled  with  a  story 
of  how  a  foreign  millionaire  had  bribed  some  prelate 
or  other  to  sell  him  the  treasured  relic ! 

In  the  eighteenth  century  Potosi  boasted  of  sixty 
churches  but  of  these  considerably  more  than  half 
are  now  in  ruins.  The  ruined  portion  of  the  city  lies 
principally  to  the  east  and  south.  A  few  strongly 
built  churches  or  church  towers  are  still  standing 
amid  the  remains  of  buildings  that  have  tumbled 
down  in  heaps. 

Several  of  the  old  convents  and  monasteries,  how- 
ever, are  still  in  a  flourishing  condition.  To  us  the 
chief  interest  consisted  of  their  collections  of  fine  old 
paintings  and  their  beautiful  flowers.  Nothing  was 
more  refreshing  in  this  mountainous  desert  than  to 
walk  in  their  lovely  green  gardens. 

The  principal  object  of  interest  in  the  city,  how- 
ever, is  the  Casa  Nacional  de  Moneda,  the  great  mint, 
which  was  begun  in  colonial  days  to  receive  the 
plunder  that  the  Spaniards  took  out  of  the  hill  by 
means  of  the  forced  labor  of  their  Indian  slaves.  It 
covers  two  city  blocks,  and  is  really  a  collection  of 
buildings  covered  by  a  massive  roof  and  surrounded 
by  a  high  wall  with  only  one  entrance.  The  front  is 
striking.  At  regular  intervals  along  the  roof  are 
little  stone  ornaments  like  funeral  urns.   The  few 


130  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

windows  are  carefully  guarded  with  iron  bars.  On 
either  side  of  the  elaborately  decorated  fagade  of  the 
two-storied  portal  are  wooden  balconies  over  which 
projects  the  heavily  timbered  roof  covered  with  large 
red  tiles. 

As  one  enters  the  great  building  from  the  street 
and  passes  between  heavy  doors  into  a  large  court- 
yard, the  first  thing  that  attracts  one's  attention  is 
an  enormous  face,  four  feet  in  diameter,  which  looks 
down  at  the  intruder  from  over  an  archway  that 
leads  to  a  second  courtyard.  The  gigantic  face  has  a 
malicious  grin  yet  bears  a  distinct  resemblance  to 
Bacchus.  Who  put  it  here  and  what  it  signifies  does 
not  seem  to  be  known.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  many 
of  the  Quichuas  before  starting  on  a  journey,  come 
to  this  courtyard  and  make  obeisance  to  the  face, 
throwing  down  in  front  of  it  a  quid  of  coca  leaves 
just  as  they  used  to  do  to  the  rising  sun  in  the  time 
of  the  Incas. 

The  courtyard  is  surrounded  by  an  arcade  with 
massive  arches  over  which  runs  the  carved  wooden 
balustrade  of  the  second-story  balcony.  In  the  sec- 
ond patio,  which  is  also  paved  with  cut  stones,  a  tiny 
narrow-gauge  railway  is  used  to  carry  silver  ingots 
from  the  treasure-room  to  the  stamping-machines. 
In  one  of  the  buildings  is  a  physics  laboratory.  In 
another  a  little  gymnasium.  In  still  a  third,  a  collec- 
tion of  minerals.  All  of  which  are  evidences  that 
here  are  the  beginnings  of  a  school  of  mines  that  is  be- 
ing built  up  under  the  able  direction  of  an  intelligent 
young  Bolivian  engineer  who  received  his  training 
at  Notre  Dame  University  in  the  United  States.   In 


POTOSI  131 

one  old  building  are  still  standing  the  great  wooden 
machines  that  were  formerly  used  in  the  process  of 
hammering  out  the  silver.  In  a  large  room  on  the 
second  floor  of  another  building  are  kept  the  vellum- 
bound  records  of  the  mint  and  all  the  dies  which  have 
been  used  for  the  past  two  hundred  years*  Accord- 
ing to  the  records,  the  value  of  the  silver  taken  from 
here  in  the  colonial  days  amounted  to  about  one 
billion  dollars.  Most  of  the  stamping  was  done  by 
hand.  The  Bolivian  government  has  cleared  out  two 
or  three  of  the  buildings  and  installed  modern  ma- 
chinery, imported  from  the  United  States. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the  mint  is 
the  size  and  condition  of  the  huge  timbers  that  sup- 
port the  roof.  They  are  as  sound  to-day  as  they  were 
two  hundred  years  ago  when,  with  infinite  labor, 
they  were  brought  across  the  mountains  from  the 
distant  forests  of  the  Chaco. 

The  roof  is  surmounted  by  a  number  of  small  sen- 
try-boxes which  are  connected  by  little  paths  and 
stairways  that  lead  to  all  parts  of  the  structure.  In 
the  old  da^/s,  it  was  necessary  not  only  to  protect  the 
"money-house"  against  possible  attacks  from  with- 
out, but  to  make  sure  that  the  Indians,  who  were  as- 
signed to  work  in  the  mint,  did  not  escape  from  the 
attics  where  they  slept  at  night. 

I  crawled  through  several  of  these  attics  where 
not  even  an  underfed  Indian  could  stand  upright. 
The  roof  was  scarcely  four  feet  above  the  floor.  In 
the  corners  were  rude  fireplaces  where  they  may 
have  cooked  their  chiipe,  with  dried  llama  dung  as 
their  only  fuel.   The  rooms  were  dark,  even  in  mid- 


132  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

day.  The  tiny  peek-holes  that  served  as  windows  ad- 
mitted scarcely  any  light.  Altogether  it  was  as 
wretched  a  dormitory  as  could  possibly  be  imagined. 

The  view  from  the  roof  was  most  interesting.  The 
romantic  cone  of  the  mountain-of-silver  rises  to  the 
south  beyond  the  graceful  towers  of  the  cathedral. 
East  of  it  are  the  hills  where  the  Spaniards  built  their 
famous  reservoirs.  Further  east  are  higher  hills 
which  have  been  the  scene  of  several  bloody  en- 
counters in  the  unprofitable  civil  wars  that  have 
devastated  Bolivia. '  Here  on  the  battle-field  of  Kari 
Kari,  several  hundred  unfortunate  Indians,  fighting 
for  revolutionary  leaders  with  whose  selfish  aims 
they  had  little  sympathy,  fell  victims  to  the  unfor- 
tunate habit  of  appealing  to  arms  instead  of  ballots. 

North  of  us,  in  the  foreground,  is  the  picturesque 
market-place,  while  northwest,  in  the  distance,  the 
old  trail  for  Oruro  and  Lima  winds  away  through 
the  barren  hills.  To  the  west  the  far  extending  vista 
discloses  a  wilderness  of  variegated  hills  and  moun- 
tain ranges.  While  all  around,  the  quaint  old  arched 
roofs,  rolling  like  giant  swells  of  the  Pacific,  are  sur- 
rounded by  the  narrow  streets,  the  red-tiled  houses, 
and  the  ruinous  towers  of  the  ancient  city. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SUCRE   THE   DE   JURE   CAPITAL   OF   BOLIVIA 

POTOsf  was  an  irresistible  attraction  to  thousands, 
but  the  dreadful  climate,  the  high  altitude,  the 
cold  winds,  and  the  chilling  rains  drove  away  those 
who  could  afford  it  to  the  more  hospitable  valleys  a 
few  days'  journey  eastward  where,  with  an  abund- 
ant water-supply  at  an  elevation  of  eight  thousand 
feet,  charming  villas  sprang  up  surrounded  by  at- 
tractive plantations,  the  present  suburbs  of  Sucre. 

A  fairly  good  coach  road  has  recently  been  com- 
pleted, and  a  weekly  stage  carries  mail  and  passen- 
gers between  the  two  cities.  We  preferred,  however, 
to  continue  on  our  saddle  mules  and  followed  the 
older  route.  The  new  road  is  a  hundred  miles  long. 
The  old  trail  Is  only  seventy-five.  With  good  ani- 
mals it  need  take  but  two  days.  We  were  In  no  hurry, 
however,  and  decided  to  do  it  in  three. 

The  valleys  through  which  our  road  descended,  at 
first  arid  and  desolate,  gradually  became  greener  and 
more  populous.  The  views  were  often  very  fine  and 
extensive  and  we  saw  a  few  snow-covered  moun- 
tains. In  the  middle  of  winter,  that  Is  June  and 
July,  the  snow  frequently  covers  everything.  Now, 
on  the  29th  of  November,  the  prevailing  color  was 
a  tawny  brown. 

On  the  road  we  met  long  strings  of  llamas,  don- 


134  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

keys,  and  mules  laden  with  every  conceivable  shape 
of  basket,  bag,  and  bundle  bringing  from  the  fertile 
valleys  to  the  eastward,  potatoes,  maize,  wane,  green 
vegetables  and  fruits,  the  produce  that  feeds  Potosi. 

Further  evidence  of  the  extent  of  this  traffic  and 
the  number  of  arrieros  that  continually  pass  over 
this  road  is  the  frequency  of  little  chicherias , wretched 
little  huts  built  of  stone  and  mud,  baked  in  the  sun, 
and  thatched  with  grass  or  bushes,  w^here  *'chicha  " 
can  be  bought  for  a  penny  a  gourd. 

On  the  bare  ground  in  front  of  one  of  them  a  wo- 
man had  pegged  down  the  framework  of  a  hand 
loom  and  was  beginning  to  weave  a  poncho.  Near 
her  the  family  dinner  of  chupe  was  simmering  away 
in  a  huge  earthenware  pot,  supported  on  three  stones, 
over  a  tiny  fire  of  thorns  and  llama  dung.  Other 
picturesque  jars  filled  with  chicha  awaited  her  cus- 
tomers. 

We  lunched  at  what  Baedeker  would  call  "a 
primitive  thermal  establishment,"  a  favorite  week- 
end resort  for  German  clerks  in  the  importing  houses 
of  Potosi.  A  swimming-pool  that  affords  opportun- 
ity to  luxuriate  in  the  warm  sulphur  water  attracts 
many  visitors,  as  it  is  practically  the  only  place  in 
southern  Bolivia  where  one  can  get  a  hot  tub  bath. 

The  proprietor  of  the  Baths,  a  type  of  English- 
man that  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  is  called  a  "beach 
comber,"  was  an  amusing  old  vagabond  who  made 
a  great  fuss  ordering  his  half-starved  Indians  to  pre- 
pare us  a  suitable  meal.  Our  expectations  were 
aroused  to  a  high  pitch  by  his  enthusiasm,  but  the 
quality  of  the  food  was  not  any  better  than  that  of 


^m  a 

^^^H^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*^          ^^^iK^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^I 

SUCRE  135 

the  ordinary  native  inn.  There  was  one  very  marked 
difference,  however.  We  were  not  met  by  any  dec- 
laration of  ^'no  hay  nada.'' 

Our  second  stopping-place  was  Bartolo,  a  small 
town  of  a  thousand  inhabitants,  chiefly  Quichua  In- 
dians, and  a  picturesque  old  church  surrounded  by 
a  wall  made  of  stone  arches.  We  arrived  on  a  Sun- 
day evening  and  found  the  tambo  already  so  full  of 
travellers  that  there  was  no  room  for  us  or  our  beasts. 
The  Prefect  of  Potosi  had  given  us  a  circular  letter 
requesting  the  masters  of  all  the  post-houses  on  our 
route  to  accord  us  "every  facility  for  our  journey." 
We  soon  found  the  letter  to  be  of  little  avail,  for 
when  there  was  any  difficulty  such  as  lack  of  accom- 
modation or  of  fodder  we  were  invariably  informed 
that  the  master  of  the  poste  was  away  attending  to 
some  business  in  another  village.  As  our  letter,  how- 
ever, included  also  the  governors  of  towns,  we  now 
asked  to  be  directed  to  the  house  of  the  Gobernador  of 
Bartolo  and  found  that  worthy  gentleman  bidding 
good-bye  to  some  Sunday  visitors  with  whom  he  had 
been  partaking  freely  of  brandy  and  chicha.  He  was 
at  first  inclined  to  be  insolent,  and  although  he  had  a 
comparatively  large  house,  declared  that  he  had  no 
room  for  us  and  that  we  must  return  to  the  inn.  As 
the  situation  approached  that  point  where  it  was  be- 
coming necessary  to  use  force  in  order  to  secure 
shelter  for  the  night,  an  obliging  guest,  who  had  pos- 
session of  the  largest  room  in  the  inn,  learning  from 
Fermin,  the  Gaucho,  that  we  were  delegados,  offered 
us  the  use  of  his  quarters  while  he  sought  accommo- 
dation among  his  acquaintances  in  the  town. 


136  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

In  the  meantime,  the  family  of  the  tipsy  governor 
had  sobered  him  up  enough  to  make  him  realize  that 
he  had  shown  discourtesy  to  the  bearer  of  a  govern- 
ment passport  and  he  came  to  the  inn  with  profuse 
offers  of  entertainment  which  we  unfortunately 
could  not  accept. 

We  left  Bartolo  early  the  next  morning.  The  dust 
had  been  laid  by  thunder-showers  in  the  night  and 
the  crisp  mountain  air  was  most  refreshing.  Occa- 
sionally we  passed  the  ruins  of  a  rude  stone  cairn 
erected  in  colonial  days  to  measure  the  leagues  be- 
tween Sucre  and  Potosi.  Fermin  had  never  been 
beyond  Potosi,  so  we  were  obliged  to  fall  back  upon 
the  service  of  guides  or  postilions  from  here  on. 
They  cannot  be  taken  farther  than  from  one  poste  to 
another,  generally  six  leagues  or  twenty  miles.  They 
receive  a  regular  tariff  of  four  cents  per  league,  and 
a  small  gratuity  besides. 

For  this  munificent  sum  of  a  little  over  a  cent  a 
mile,  they  are  supposed  to  assist  in  catching  and  sad- 
dling the  animals,  to  hold  the  packs  while  they  are 
being  loaded,  and  then  to  run  beside  the  trotting 
pack-animals,  ready  to  help  if  the  loads  become 
loosened,  constantly  at  hand,  a  willing  slave  to  the 
arriero  and  a  guide  to  the  traveller.  Generally  lightly 
clad  with  the  regulation  Quichua  small  clothes,  that 
look  as  though  made  of  meal-sacks,  they  march  or 
lope  along  cheerily,  now  and  then  blowing  lustily  on 
an  ox-horn,  which  they  carry  slung  over  the  shoulder 
as  a  badge  of  their  position. 

The  postilions  will  not  budge  unless  their  tariff  is 
paid  in  advance,  for  they  have  learned  through  cen- 


SUCRE  137 

turies  of  experience  that  while  the  traveller  with  a 
stout  whip,  mounted  on  a  good  animal,  with  the 
authority  of  the  government  at  his  back,  can  force 
them  to  go  the  required  distance  after  the  fee  has 
been  paid,  they  have  no  means  whatever  of  forcing 
him  to  pay  after  he  has  arrived  at  his  destination 
and  has  no  further  need  of  their  services.  The  first 
postilion  we  had,  recognizing  the  fact  that  our  arriero 
was  a  stranger  in  this  part  of  the  country  and  that 
we  were  foreigners,  ran  far  ahead  of  the  little  cara- 
van, and  would  have  disappeared  among  the  thorny 
shrubs  of  the  arid  hillside  had  we  not  galloped  after 
him  and  threateningly  ordered  him  to  return  to  his 
post  at  the  heels  of  the  mules.  The  next  one  proved 
to  be  a  good  fellow  and  did  his  work  well,  notwith- 
standing the  dust  which  was  his  portion  during  most 
of  the  day. 

This  morning  we  passed  a  field  in  which  alpacas 
that  looked  like  overgrown  woolly  dogs  were  feeding. 
As  the  sparse  foliage  increased,  we  met  numerous 
flocks  of  sheep  watched  over  by  diminutive  children 
in  shawls  and  ponchos  who  ran  away  and  hid  be- 
hind rocks  when  they  saw  us  coming. 

About  the  middle  of  the  morning  we  came  to  the 
edge  of  a  plateau  and  enjoyed  a  wonderful  view  of 
fertile  valleys,  whose  waters  flow  rapidly  down  to 
the  Pilcomayo.  It  seemed  difficult  to  realize  that  a 
Bolivian  landscape  could  have  any  other  color  than 
brown.  Our  descent  was  now  rapid,  and  the  tem- 
perature grew  warmer  except  when  we  encountered 
a  small  hail-storm. 

After  passing  the  scene  of  a  battle  in  the  unsuc- 


138  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

cessful  revolution  of  General  Camacho,  a  militant 
politician  with  whom  Bolivia  had  considerable  diffi- 
culty in  the  '90's,  we  stopped  for  lunch  at  a  tumbled- 
down  hostelry  called  Quebrada  Honda,  in  honor  of  a 
deep  little  valley  whose  steep  sides  rise  abruptly 
from  a  roaring  mountain  torrent.  Squatting  on  the 
ground  in  front  of  the  tambo  was  a  Quichua  woman 
weaving  a  bright-colored  poncho. 

In  the  afternoon  we  passed  some  primitive  dwell- 
ings which  consisted  of  huge  flat  boulders  under 
which  excavations  had  been  made  leaving  them  par- 
tially supported  by  piles  of  stones  at  the  corners. 
The  method  did  not  seem  to  have  proved  success- 
ful, for  in  most  cases,  the  roof,  too  heavy  for  the 
supports,  was  lying  on  the  ground. 

About  five  o'clock  we  arrived  at  the  poste  of  Pampa 
Tambo.  We  found  a  postilion  in  charge;  the  "mas- 
ter of  the  poste  was  absent"  as  usual.  The  postilion 
decided  to  charge  us  three  times  the  regular  rate  for 
forage  and  Fermin  protested  vigorously,  but  in  vain. 
Although  it  was  a  matter  of  only  a  dollar  or  so,  I  de- 
cided to  see  whether  my  letter  from  the  Prefect  of 
Potosi  would  make  any  difl"erence  with  his  attitude 
toward  us.  The  sight  of  the  official  seal,  and  an  em- 
phatic threat  that  he  would  get  himself  into  trouble 
if  he  persisted  in  his  outrageous  demands,  gradually 
brought  him  to  lower  the  price  until  it  came  within 
two  or  three  cents  of  the  regular  tariff. 

Hardly  had  we  settled  the  dispute  when  a  violent 
thunder-storm  came  up.  This  was  the  last  day  of 
November  and  the  rainy  season  was  beginning.  From 
now  on  we  had  showers  nearly  every  afternoon. 


,  »* 


^  |l^|i-jr^"  'kf^'  ^^ 


I     -* 


^m- 


r^ 


r^- 


A   PAStURE    FdR    .SHEEP   AND    ALPACAS 


A   QUICHUA   WOMAN    WEAVING    AT   QUEBRADA    HONDA 


SUCRE  139 

In  the  evening  a  party  of  foreigners  arrived,  con- 
sisting of  a  wealthy  Franco-BoHviano  and  his  two 
sons  who  were  on  their  way  home  from  Paris.  They 
amused  us  by  their  elaborate  preparations  to  supply 
themselves  with  drinks  and  edibles.  Little  alcohol 
stoves  were  kept  busy  making  hot  toddy,  and  drinks 
without  number  soon  produced  a  very  drowsy  party. 

We  got  an  early  start  the  next  morning  and,  in  an 
hour  after  leaving  Pampa  Tambo,  came  in  sight  of 
the  great  river  Pilcomayo  which  is  associated  with 
the  tragic  death  of  the  French  explorer,  Creveaux. 
The  Pilcomayo  rises  west  of  Potosi,  receives  the  tur- 
bid waters  that  have  passed  through  Potosi's  smelt- 
ers, flows  east  and  then  southeast  towards  Para- 
guay, finally  joining  the  Paraguay  River  just  above 
Asuncion.  Were  it  not  for  the  gigantic  morass,  the 
Estero  Patino,  which  interrupts  its  course  for  about 
fifty  miles,  it  would  serve  as  a  convenient  means  of 
communication  between  the  mining  region  of  Boli- 
via and  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  Most  of  its  course  is 
through  the  Gran  Chaco,  a  debateable  land  that  har 
been  only  partly  explored. 

East  of  the  Andes,  where  the  afifluents  of  the  Pil- 
comayo are  almost  interlaced  with  those  of  the  Ma- 
more,  in  the  watershed  between  the  basins  of  the 
Amazon  and  the  Parana,  lies  a  region  of  rich  trop- 
ical forests  with  possibilities  of  development  that 
appeal  very  strongly  to  far-sighted  Bolivianos.  The 
conditions  are  tropical,  the  soil  is  fertile,  and  there 
is  an  abundance  of  rain.  There  are,  however,  in  this 
region,  many  tribes  of  wild  Indians  of  whom  little 
is  known  and  who  have  shown  no  desire  to  encour- 


140  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

age  the  advent  of  strangers.  Transportation  is  ex- 
ceedingly difficult. 

We  found  that  a  suspension  bridge  had  been  built 
across  the  Pilcomayo  at  its  narrowest  and  deepest 
point,  but  owing  to  the  tardiness  of  the  wet  season, 
we  were  able  to  ford  the  stream  lower  down  and  save 
a  detour  of  several  miles.  After  crossing  the  river 
we  rode  up  a  dry  gulch  in  which  an  attempt  at  culti- 
vation by  means  of  irrigating  ditches  was  produc- 
ing both  pomegranates  and  peaches. 

An  hour's  ride  beyond  the  river  brought  us  to 
Calera,  a  little  hamlet  of  Indian  huts  with  a  very 
primitive  tambo.  We  had  counted  on  resting  here 
during  the  middle  of  the  day,  but  there  was  abso- 
lutely nothing  to  be  had  either  for  man  or  beast.  We 
could  have  unloaded  and  unpacked  our  own  supplies, 
but  there  is  no  point  in  eating  when  your  mules  can- 
not eat,  and  so  we  pushed  on,  twelve  miles  further,  to 
the  town  of  Yotala.  Our  path  crossed  a  low  range 
of  barren  hills  and  then  descended  a  thousand  feet 
or  more  by  a  steep,  winding  path  to  the  river  Cachi- 
mayo  which  we  forded  without  difficulty.  In  this 
little  valley  we  found  many  attractive  plantations, 
the  fincas  or  country  houses  of  the  wealthy  resi- 
dents of  Sucre.  Extensive  irrigation  has  trans- 
formed the  bed  of  the  valley  into  what  seems  like  a 
veritable  paradise,  so  great  is  its  contrast  with  the 
barren  region  around  about. 

Yotala  is  an  old  Spanish  town,  much  more  dead 
than  alive.  There  was  an  inn,  misnamed  a  "res- 
taurant," where  there  was  nothing  to  be  had  in  the 
way  of  food  for  any  of  us.   Fermin  finally  succeeded 


SUCRE  141 

in  finding  a  poor  widow  who  had  a  little  fodder  for 
sale  and  was  willing  to  let  the  mules  eat  it  in  her 
back  yard.  As  for  ourselves,  we  had  to  fall  back  as 
usual  on  canned  goods,  just  as  though  this  were  an 
isolated  poste,  twenty  miles  from  anywhere,  instead 
of  being  a  town  of  several  thousand  inhabitants. 
We  spread  out  our  little  lunch  on  the  stones  of  the 
plaza  under  two  trees. 

As  it  was  noon,  and  the  sky  cloudless,  the  sun 
shone  with  considerable  ferocity.  Presently  a  slov- 
enly official  with  an  expression  on  his  face  that  said 
plainly  he  was  not  quite  sure  whether  we  were  dis- 
tinguished travellers  who  ought  to  be  looked  after 
or  only  vagabonds  who  should  be  driven  off,  came 
and  inquired  if  we  were  French  merchants.  On  re- 
ceiving a  negative  reply  he  seemed  rather  relieved 
and  withdrew  to  the  shade  of  his  own  house.  Of 
course  if  we  had  whispered  the  magic  words  "  dele- 
gados  de  los  Estados  Unidos,"  all  would  have  been 
different. 

After  the  mules  had  had  a  rest  we  covered  the  re- 
maining six  miles  to  Sucre,  passing  on  the  way  a 
number  of  leiVgefincas.  One  of  them  seemed  to  bear 
a  distant  resemblance  to  a  pleasure  park.  Statues 
of  men  and  animals,  summer  houses,  pagodas,  and  a 
small  intramural  railway  whose  imitation  locomo- 
tive was  a  small  automobile  in  disguise,  lent  the 
place  a  festive  air  which  was  increased  by  one  or  two 
minarets  and  other  fantastic  tourers.  We  learned 
afterwards  that  this  was  La  Glorieta,  the  seat  of  the 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Glorieta.  The  story,  as  told 
us  by  a  pleasant  old  lady  in  Sucre,  is  as  follows :  — 


142  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

It  seems  that  the  head  of  the  richest  family  in 
Bolivia,  who  is  also  the  leading  banker  of  Sucre, 
wearying  of  republican  simplicity,  decided  to  make 
a  large  donation  to  the  Pope.  Soon  afterw'ards  his 
great  generosity  was  rewarded  with  the  title  of 
"Prince  of  Glorieta."  Unfortunately,  our  presence 
in  this  part  of  the  world  was  not  properly  made 
known  to  this  Bolivian  royal  house  and  I  am  unable 
to  give  an  adequate  description  of  the  beauties  of 
Glorieta.  They  have,  however,  been  published  by 
the  owners  in  a  pamphlet,  and  from  all  that  I  could 
hear,  Glorieta  has  a  distant  resemblance  to  Coney 
Island. 

After  passing  Glorieta,  w^e  crossed  a  small  cafion, 
climbed  the  sides  of  a  deep  gorge,  and  suddenly  found 
ourselves  at  the  city  gates. 

Sucre  has  a  population  of  twenty  thousand  souls, 
including  fifty  negroes,  and  two  or  three  hundred 
foreigners,  a  large  number  of  whom  are  Spaniards 
engaged  in  mercantile  business.  There  are  tw^o  or 
three  hotels  here,  and  we  were  in  some  doubt  as  to 
which  might  offer  the  best  welcome.  After  a  vain 
effort  to  locate  the  Prefect  and  get  his  advice,  we 
decided  to  go  to  the  Hotel  Colon  where  we  found 
large  comfortable  rooms  on  the  second  floor,  facing 
the  plaza.  The  proprietor  was  most  polite  and  at- 
tentive. The  only  fault  that  we  had  to  find  with 
him  was  his  continual  spitting.  The  fact  that  there 
were  no  cuspidors  and  that  he  was  ruining  his  own 
carpet  did  not  deter  him  in  the  least.  Perhaps  he 
had  rented  the  furnishings. 

It  is  superfluous  to  speak  of  the  filth  of  the  kitchen 


THE   GREAT   RIVER    PILCOMAYO 


il.a  li  ihltri%^  iilMlh#*  *il  «<lil»t'" '^iftijtiifci^^i  *iWw»  JB^IMfc'*'"*'  ^ 


OUR    HOTEL   IN    SUCRE 


SUCRE  143 

through  which  we  had  to  pass  to  reach  the  back 
yard.  It  differed  from  others  only  in  the  large  num- 
ber of  guinea-pigs  that  swarmed  everywhere.  They 
helped  to  make  the  bill-of-fare  more  interesting. 

Sucre  owes  its  importance  to  its  comparatively 
pleasant  climate.  The  average  temperature  is  56°  F. 
Bolivianos,  accustomed  as  they  are  to  one  of  the  worst 
climates  in  the  world,  say  that  Sucre  has  "the  finest 
climate  in  existence,"  which  means,  being  translated, 
that  it  is  fairly  tolerable.  Nevertheless,  we  found  it 
very  agreeable  to  be  down  at  this  lower  elevation, 
and  we  could  scarcely  sympathize  with  Castelnau, 
who,  coming  up  from  the  eastern  plains  in  1845, 
thought  Sucre  very  "triste.'"  He  and  his  associates 
had  been  for  many  months  in  the  warm  regions  of 
Brazil  and  found  it  difficult  "to  resist  the  cold  and 
the  effects  of  the  altitude."  Most  of  them  suffered 
severely  from  soroche  although  few  people  now-a- 
days  think  of  being  troubled  at  an  altitude  of  any- 
thing less  than  twelve  thousand  feet  and  Sucre  is 
only  a  little  over  nine  thousand. 

If  the  miners  had  felt  as  Castelnau  did,  the  old 
Indian  city  of  Chuquisaca  would  never  have  be- 
come the  social  and  literary  capital  of  upper  Peru. 
Its  name  was  changed  to  La  Plata  in  recognition  of 
the  stream  of  silver  that  flowed  to  it  from  Potosi. 
Here  resided  an  important  bishop  who  looked  after 
the  souls  of  countless  thousands  of  Indians  scattered 
up  and  down  the  Bolivian  plateau  and  in  the  tan- 
gled jungles  east  of  the  Andes.  The  citizens  of  Chu- 
quisaca, or  La  Plata,  acquired  before  long  a  reputa- 
tion for  wealth  and  intelligence  which  spread  far  and 


144  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

wide.  They  called  their  city  the  "Athens  of  Peru" 
and  they  established  here  a  university  where  stu- 
dents still  come  to  study  law  and  medicine^ 

After  the  great  battle  of  Ayacucho  in  December, 
1824,  when  General  Sucre  won  the  memorable  vic- 
tory that  defeated  the  last  Spanish  army  in  South 
America,  Upper  Peru  was  erected  into  an  independ- 
ent Republic,  taking  its  name  from  the  great  Gen- 
eral Bolivar  and  giving  to  its  capital  city  the  name 
of  its  first  president. 

President  Sucre  was  living  at  the  capital  when 
Edmond  Temple  came  here  in  1826.  That  enter- 
taining writer  describes  him  as  tall  and  thin  with 
mild,  prepossessing  manners  and  dififident  address. 
Temple  had  lived  in  Bolivia  for  nearly  a  year  and 
was  moved  to  say  that  General  Sucre  was  the  best 
choice  that  could  have  been  made  to  fill  "the  ardu- 
ous, troublesome,  and  thankless  office  of  Supreme 
Chief  of  the  new  republic  of  Bolivia."  Temple  at- 
tended a  session  of  Congress  where  he  was  unfavor- 
ably impressed  by  the  custom  of  remaining  seated 
during  the  whole  debate  and  by  the  constant  prac- 
tice of  spitting,  "which  is  a  breach  of  decorum 
which  no  Englishman  can  patiently  witness!"  The 
innkeeper  must  have  been  a  descendant  of  a  Con- 
gressman. 

As  long  as  Congress  sat  here  the  representatives 
came  mostly  from  this  region  and  were  naturally  in- 
fluenced by  the  aristocratic  society  of  the  capital. 
The  wealthy  politicians  of  Sucre  succeeded  in  divert- 
ing a  large  part  of  the  national  revenues  to  beautify- 
ing their  city,  building  extravagant  public  works, 


SUCRE  145 

and  neglecting  the  just  claims  of  La  Paz.  La  Paz, 
far  more  populous,  and  enjoying  a  much  more  im- 
portant situation  commercially,  was  overlooked.  Lit- 
tle of  the  public  revenue  found  its  way  thither.  The 
result  was  a  revolution  in  which  La  Paz  emphatically 
proclaimed  its  desire  to  share  in  the  distribution  of 
the  public  moneys  and  public  offices.  The  then 
President  gathered  the  Government  forces  together 
in  Sucre  and  proceeded  to  march  on  the  rebellious 
metropolis.  He  was  defeated  not  far  from  La  Paz 
with  great  losses,  and  the  war-like  Aymaras  of  La 
Paz  followed  up  the  victory  with  orgies  of  a  disgust- 
ing and  barbaric  if  not  cannibalistic  character.  The 
result  was  that  while  Sucre  retained  the  Supreme 
Court  and  the  title  of  Capital,  La  Paz  became  the 
actual  seat  of  government,  and  few  foreign  diplo- 
mats have  ever  undertaken  the  five  days  of  hard 
travel  which  separates  Sucre  from  Challapata,  the 
nearest  railway  station. 

Nevertheless  the  wealthiest  people  in  Bolivia  live 
in  Sucre.  They  are  very  aristocratic  and  extremely 
exclusive,  and  they  feel  very  superior  to  the  citizens 
of  La  Paz  although  that  place  is  really  much  more 
important  than  Sucre.  The  great  land-owners  have 
established  here  the  headquarters  of  the  most  im- 
portant banks  in  the  country. 

At  the  largest  of  all,  the  Banco  Nacional  de  Bo- 
livia, I  drew  some  money  on  my  letter  of  credit. 
Among  the  coins  which  I  trustfully  accepted  were 
seven  or  eight  that  proved  to  be  bad.  The  Indians 
always  ring  a  coin  before  accepting  it.  The  result 
was  I  found  myself  the  victim  of  a  clever  bank  cash- 


146  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ier.  The  coins  were  probably  not  counterfeit.  The 
Bolivian  government  has  not  been  above  issuing 
"silver"  coins,  particularly  "half  pesos''  that  con- 
tain so  much  "alloy"  as  to  be  valueless.  - 

These  debased  half  dollars  have  long  been  a  sub- 
ject of  annoyance  not  only  to  travellers  but  to  the 
neighboring  Peruvians.  Sir  Clements  Markham 
says  that  at  the  time  of  his  visit  to  Peru  in  1859, 
when  he  was  on  that  famous  mission  that  secured 
Chincona  plants  from  eastern  Peru  for  transporta- 
tion to  India,  war  was  imminent  between  Peru  and 
Bolivia  and  one  casus  belli  was  that  the  Bolivian 
government  persisted  in  coining  and  deluging  Peru 
with  debased  half  dollars.  These  ill-omened  chick- 
ens have  certainly  come  back  to  roost,  for  one  never 
sees  them  now  in  Peru  and  they  are  all  too  frequent 
here.  Perhaps  that  is  one  reason  why  the  local  banks 
are  so  unusually  well  built. 

There  is  also  a  pretentious  "legislative  palace," 
and  at  the  time  of  my  visit  a  large  theatre  was  in  the 
course  of  construction.  It  was  hoped  to  have  this 
completed  in  time  for  the  celebration  of  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  beginning  of  the  War  of 
Independence. 

The  market-place  Is  neither  so  interesting  nor  so 
picturesque  as  that  of  Potosl.  A  few  of  the  men 
wore  curious  helmet-like  hats  wuth  small  visors 
turned  up  in  front  and  back.  It  would  be  interest- 
ing to  know  whether  this  were  the  original  hat  of  the 
vicinity  or  whether  it  had  been  copied  from  the  head- 
gear of  the  armored  Spaniard  conquistadores  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  corresponding  women's  hats 


SUCRE  147 

were  twice  as  large  as  the  men's  but  the  brim  was 
turned  up  in  the  front  and  back  in  the  same  fashion. 

Most  of  the  women  wore  felt  hats  of  native  manu- 
facture, picturesque  coats  of  white  cotton  decorated 
with  many  little  pieces  of  colored  calico,  and  as  many 
heavy  woollen  petticoats  as  they  could  afford.  Thema- 
jority  wore  rough  rawhide  sandals  without  socks  but 
a  few  had  elaborately  patterned  knitted  stockings. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  chocolate  is  manu- 
factured here  and,  as  in  the  mountains  of  Colombia, 
no  meal  is  considered  complete  without  it.  They 
appreciate  better  than  we  do  the  advantage  of 
having  the  drink  as  light  and  airy  as  possible,  and 
consequently  never  serve  any  without  beating  it 
to  a  light  froth  by  means  of  a  wooden  spindle  that  is 
inserted  in  the  pot  and  rapidly  revolved  between 
the  palms  of  the  hands. 

There  are  several  Indian  silversmiths  here,  as  well 
as  in  Potosi,  where  filigree- work,  spoons,  and  simple 
silver  dishes  are  hammered  out.  The  director  of  the 
mint  in  Potosi  told  me  he  was  frequently  offered 
pure  silver  family  heirlooms  that  have  come  down 
from  the  extravagant  days  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury when  in  a  well-to-do  house  every  imaginable 
utensil  was  made  of  silver. 

Another  specialty  of  Sucre  is  the  manufacture  of 
tiny  dolls  out  of  pieces  of  fine  wire,  lace,  and  tinsel. 
They  range  in  size  from  four  inches  down  to  half  an 
inch.  Sometimes  an  effort  is  made  to  copy  a  native 
costume,  but  more  generally  the  dressing  is  entirely 
fantastic  or  suited  only  to  high  carnival.  Similar  dolls 
are  made  in  south  central  Mexico. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   ROAD   TO   CHALLAPATA 

WE  were  not  sorry  when  the  time  came  to  leave 
Sucre.  It  not  infrequently  happens  that  in- 
terior provincial  cities  of  considerable  local  political 
importance  are  not  very  lenient  toward  strangers, 
particularly  if  the  latter  are  dressed  in  breeches  that 
seem  at  all  outlandish  to  the  provincial  mind.  I  un- 
derstand that  Chinese  have  found  this  to  be  true  in 
the  capitals  of  our  Western  States.  The  thing  had 
happened  to  me  before  in  Tunja,  the  capital  of  the 
province  of  Boyacd,  Colombia.  And  it  happened 
here  in  Sucre.  Whenever  w^e  walked  the  streets  ex- 
amining the  public  buildings  or  visiting  the  market- 
place, we  were  considerably  annoyed  by  loafers, 
both  men  and  boys,  who,  recognizing  us  as  strangers 
and  foreigners,  regarded  us  as  the  proper  target  for 
all  manner  of  witticisms. 

An  hour  after  leaving  the  city,  we  turned  to  look 
back,  and  found  the  view  from  the  west  quite  attrac- 
tive. In  the  foreground,  dry  gulches,  stony  hillsides, 
and  an  occasional  thatched  mud  hut.  In  the  dis- 
tance, hills  sloping  down  so  abruptly  that  one  could 
not  see  the  bottom  of  the  gulch  that  lay  between  us 
and  the  city.  Immediately  beyond,  the  white  walls 
of  Sucre  overshadowed  by  a  mountain  whose  twin 
peaks  rise  beyond  the  eastern  suburbs.   There  was 


THE   ROAD   TO   CHALLAPATA       149 

just  a  suggestion  of  green,  reminding  us  that  this  is 
the  last  fertile  spot  on  the  outskirts  of  the  great  arid 
plateau,  towards  which  we  now  turned. 

As  the  road  between  Sucre  and  the  railway  is  one 
of  the  most  important  thoroughfares  in  Bolivia,  it 
was  to  be  expected  that  there  would  be  pastes  every 
four  or  five  leagues.  The  first  one  we  came  to  was 
that  of  Punilla,  four  leagues  from  Sucre.  All  we 
needed  was  a  guide,  but  the  only  postilion  we  could 
secure  had  a  very  sore  foot,  scarcely  protected  at  all 
from  the  stony  road  by  the  primitive  rawhide  sandal 
that  he  wore.   Yet  he  came  along  quite  cheerfully. 

The  pastes  between  Sucre  and  Challapata  are 
larger  than  those  in  southern  Bolivia.  They  are 
modelled  on  the  Inca  tambos  that  used  to  exist  on  all 
the  more  frequented  trails  in  the  highlands  of  Peru  and 
Bolivia;  a  range  of  low,  windowless  buildings,  either 
of  stone  or  adobe,  sometimes  completely  surround- 
ing a  courtyard,  at  other  times  only  on  three  sides, 
containing  a  few  rooms  of  which  one  is  furnished  with 
a  rough  and  very  shaky  table  and  three  or  four  adobe 
platforms  intended  for  bunks;  mud  floors  that  have 
accumulated  dirt  and  filth  of  every  description  ever 
since  the  building  was  constructed ;  poorly  thatched 
roofs  from  which  bits  of  straw  and  pieces  of  dirt  oc- 
casionally dislodge  themselves  to  fall  on  the  table 
where  we  spread  our  canned  repast,  or  to  alight  on 
our  faces  just  as  we  were  trying  to  get  to  sleep. 

The  trains  of  pack  animals  that  we  met  on  the 
road,  whether  llamas,  burros,  or  mules,  were  all  en- 
gaged in  bringing  freight  from  the  railway.  This 
consisted  mostly  of  boxes  of  soap  and  canned  goods, 


150  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

cases  of  wine  and  beer  and  condensed  milk,  and  small 
packages  of  general  merchandise. 

The  next  poste,  Pisculco,  four  leagues  beyond  Pu- 
nilla  over  a  good  road  that  wound  through  semi-arid 
hills,  was  an  extremely  primitive  affair.  The  mas- 
ter of  the  paste  and  all  the  postilions  were  "absent," 
but  we  secured  the  services  of  a  small  boy  who 
bravely  girded  his  belt,  slung  a  horn  over  his  shoul- 
der, received  his  pay  and  started  out  as  our  guide 
and  escort.  He  soon  fell  behind,  however,  and  be- 
fore we  knew  it,  disappeared  among  the  brown 
bushes.  Both  his  scanty  raiment  and  his  skin  were 
so  nearly  the  color  of  the  ground  that  it  was  a  hope- 
less task  to  look  for  him,  and  we  went  on,  trusting 
we  should  be  able  to  follow  such  a  well-travelled 
highway  without  the  necessity  of  a  guide.  Unfor- 
tunately, the  road  forked,  and  in  choosing  the  more 
travelled  branch,  we  followed  a  short  cut  in  the 
steps  of  llama  pack  trains.  As  they  camp  in  the 
open  at  night,  we  missed  the  road  for  Moromoro, 
took  the  wrong  turn,  and  after  a  perilous  descent 
down  a  mile  of  treacherous,  slippery  rocks,  found  our- 
selves at  the  abandoned  tambo  of  Challoma,  whose 
only  inhabitants  were  an  old  woman  and  her  pigs. 
She  was  greatly  alarmed  at  our  arrival  and  told  us 
in  shrill  tones  that  we  were  three  leagues  off  the  road. 
Nevertheless,  as  it  was  rapidly  getting  dark  and  we 
had  had  a  hard  ride  of  forty  miles,  we  decided  to 
take  shelter  under  the  leaky  roof  of  the  ancient  poste. 

Beyond  Challoma  the  trail  crossed  a  canon  and  a 
shallow  stream  and  finally  came  out  on  a  series  of 
flat  lands  where  we  saw  a  few  burros  and  llamas 


■■'^'\, 


THE  ROAD  TO  CHALLAPATA       151 

grazing  on  the  dry  grass  which  had  been  left  over 
from  the  last  rainy  season. 

In  the  middle  of  one  such  plain  stood  the  next 
poste,  Caracara,  built  like  a  fortress  in  the  desert. 
There  are  only  three  openings  in  the  great  square 
inclosure:  a  barred  window  high  up  in  a  gable  end 
near  one  corner;  a  little  door  leading  to  a  cantina 
where  one  could  purchase  a  few  drinks,  matches, 
candles,  and  cigarettes;  and  a  small  arched  entrance 
through  which  loaded  animals  and  travellers  pass  to 
the  courtyard.  Although  on  one  of  the  most  Import- 
ant highways  in  Bolivia  it  did  not  afford  any  food 
for  the  animals  or  ourselves. 

After  leaving  Caracara,  we  passed  a  few  pink  roses 
blooming  under  the  shelter  of  some  rocks.  They 
looked  strangely  out  of  place  in  this  Thibetan  wil- 
derness but  they  gave  signs  of  the  coming  spring  and 
the  rainy  season.  In  the  afternoon  we  had  several 
thunder-showers.  The  result  of  the  showers  of  the 
past  few  days  had  been  to  stimulate  also  the  growth 
of  an  occasional  geranium,  or  modest  little  fern.  In 
general  there  was  little  to  relieve  the  monotonous 
brown  wilderness. 

For  league  after  league  we  continued  our  march 
westward  through  a  confused  mountainous  region. 
In  southern  Bolivia  we  had  followed  a  long  valley 
running  in  a  north  and  south  direction,  but  here  our 
route  lay  across  the  valleys.  Sometimes  we  followed 
the  coach  road  for  several  leagues  and  then  took  a 
short  cut  down  a  steep  hillside.  At  times  we  did  not 
see  a  single  hut  in  the  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  sep- 
arating the  pastes.  While  not  quite  so  sandy  and 


152  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

desolate  as  the  region  farther  south,  still  it  impresses 
one  as  being  extremely  inhospitable  and  unlikely 
ever  to  support  a  larger  population. 

In  the  evening  of  the  second  day  we  reached 
Ocuri,  eighty  miles  from  Sucre.  Just  outside  the 
town  we  crossed  a  very  swampy  plain  where  cattle, 
horses,  and  pigs  were  feeding  in  treacherous  bogs. 

Ocuri  is  a  brown  little  Indian  town  of  perhaps  two 
thousand  inhabitants,  with  houses  of  sunburned 
brick  and  thatched  roofs,  lying  high  up  on  the  side 
of  a  mountain  whose  peak  shelters  it  somewhat  from 
the  easterly  winds.  It  is  higher  than  Potosi  and  has 
much  the  same  cold,  dismal  climate.  It  likewise  owes 
its  existence  to  the  presence  of  mines  of  silver  and 
tin.  There  are  several  small  smelters  just  outside 
the  town.  We  could  get  nothing  to  eat  in  the  poste, 
but  a  pleasant-faced  mestiza  woman  who  kept  a  sort 
of  boarding-house  near  by,  gave  us  a  supper  of  beef- 
steak and  fried  eggs,  a  welcome  change  from  the 
canned  food  which  was  our  mainstay. 

The  principal  street  in  the  town  was  lined  with 
small  shops  where  a  considerable  variety  of  domestic 
and  foreign  merchandise  was  offered  for  sale.  This 
does  not  mean  that  there  were  any  attractive  win- 
dow displays  but  that  when  Mr.  Smith  felt  brave 
enough  to  venture  to  step  over  the  little  Aymara 
brats  and  the  fierce  Bolivian  dogs  who  were  playing 
around  the  prostrate  forms  of  drunken  arrieros,  he 
found  hidden  away  in  the  dark  recesses  of  dusty 
shops,  quite  a  variety  of  articles.  Cigarettes,  onions, 
eggs,  bread,  canned  salmon,  sardines,  home-made 
woollen  ponchos,  imported  cotton  cloth,  candles, 


THE  ROAD  TO  CHALLAPATA       153 

cheap  domestic  pottery,  straw  hats,  shoes,  belts, 
gloves,  and  condensed  milk.  It  is  a  very  poor  place 
indeed  in  Bolivia  where  one  cannot  buy  a  small  can 
of  Swiss  condensed  milk,  the  one  thing  that  is  gen- 
erally good. 

At  Ocuri,  we  entered  the  country  of  the  Aymaras 
for  whom  this  is  a  kind  of  outpost  town.  Our  first 
evidence  of  their  being  here  was  the  fact  that  the 
postilions  in  the  tamho  unloaded  our  mules  very  care- 
lessly, allowing  the  bags  to  fall  with  a  crash  to  the 
ground.  They  seemed  to  think  it  a  great  joke  to 
treat  us  as  ignominiously  as  possible.  From  here  to 
Oruro,  La  Paz,  and  Lake  Titicaca  the  Aymaras  are 
in  full  sway.  They  seem  to  be  inserted  like  a  wedge 
between  the  Quichuas  of  Peru  and  those  of  southern 
Bolivia. 

The  Quichuas  are  a  mild  and  inoffensive  folk,  but 
the  Aymaras,  heavier  In  build,  coarser  featured,  and 
more  vigorous  In  general  appearance,  are  brutally 
insolent  in  their  manner  and  unruly  in  their  behav- 
ior. We  were  even  regaled  with  stories  of  their  can- 
nibalism on  certain  occasions,  but  unfortunately  had 
no  opportunity  of  proving  the  truth  of  such  state- 
ments. Neither  Quichuas  nor  Aymards  are  at  all 
thrifty,  and  we  were  everywhere  Impressed  with  their 
great  poverty.  Their  clothing  is  generally  the  merest 
rags  and  their  food  is  as  meagre  as  can  possibly  be 
imagined.  Coca  and  chicha  (i.  e.,  cocaine  and  alco- 
hol) seem  to  be  beginning  and  end  of  life  with  them. 
We  rarely  ever  saw  one  riding,  although  occasion- 
ally we  met  a  postilion  returning  to  his  poste  with  a 
mule  that  had  been  placed  in  his  charge. 


154  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

A  great  majority  of  the  population  show  little  or 
no  desire  to  vote  or  to  have  anything  to  do  with  poli- 
tics. They  are  uneducated,  but  have  very  fixed 
ideas  with  regard  to  their  absolute  rights  over  land 
which  they  have  occupied  for  any  length  of  time. 
Their  ideas  of  squatter  sovereignty  sometimes  inter- 
fere with  the  desires  of  the  government  to  develop 
the  resources  of  the  country. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  no  efforts  are  being  made  to 
establish  a  good  system  of  public  schools  and  en- 
force attendance.  One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  such  an  undertaking  is  the  fact  that  the 
Indians  not  only  have  no  interest  in  securing  the 
education  of  their  children,  but  also  that  they  find  it 
to  their  advantage  to  speak  their  own  tongue  rather 
than  Spanish.  Probably  less  than  fifteen  per  cent 
of  the  population  speak  Spanish  with  fluency.  They 
are  lacking  in  ambition,  seem  to  have  no  desire  to 
raise  produce,  bear  ill-will  towards  strangers,  and  pre- 
fer not  to  assist  travellers  to  pass  through  their 
country.  Even  if  a  man  has  plenty  of  chickens  and 
sheep,  he  will  generally  refuse  to  sell  any  although 
you  ofi"er  him  an  excellent  price.  With  coaxing  and 
coca  you  may  succeed.  Sometimes  he  pretends  not 
to  understand  Spanish  and  replies  to  all  questions 
in  guttural  Quichua  or  Aymara. 
I  So  large  a  percentage  of  the  population  are  In- 
dians that  nearly  all  the  whites  are  actively  inter- 
ested in  politics  and  would  like  to  be  office-holders. 
It  is  said  that  all  elections  are  merely  forms  through 
which  the  party  in  power  goes,  in  order  to  maintain 
its  supremacy. 


THE  ROAD  TO  CHALLAPATA      155 

The  majority  of  the  inhabitants  are  in  no  sense 
fitted  to  be  the  citizens  of  a  repubHc.  However  much 
the  theoretical  lover  of  liberty  may  bemoan  the  fact 
that  Bolivia  is  in  reality  an  oligarchy,  one  cannot 
help  feeling  that  that  is  the  only  possible  outcome 
of  an  attempt  to  simulate  the  forms  of  a  republic 
in  a  country  whose  inhabitants  are  so  deficient  both 
mentally  and  morally.  Mexico  has  given  a  splendid 
example  of  what  can  be  accomplished  in  a  region 
populated  largely  by  Indians  and  descendants  of 
Spanish  monarchists.  The  benevolent  despotism 
which  President  Diaz  has  exhibited  now  for  more 
than  a  generation  has  done  wonders.  The  great  San 
Martin  foresaw  the  advantages  of  oligarchy  or  mon- 
archy and  advocated  something  of  the  kind  for  the 
Spanish  provinces  of  South  America  when  they 
secured  their  independence.  Unfortunately,  his  far- 
sighted  statesmanship  ran  counter  to  the  bombastic 
notions  of  "  liberty  "  held  by  the  uneducated  Creoles 
who  had  secured  control  of  the  reins  of  government 
and  the  result  was  the  creation  of  republics.  The  ex- 
treme difficulty  of  communication  throughout  Bolivia 
has  made  the  way  of  revolutions  fairly  easy.  An  en- 
tire province  can  rise  against  the  government  before 
sufficient  troops  can  be  sent  to  quell  the  disturbance. 

Whenever  we  got  an  early  start  from  a  poste,  we 
were  pretty  sure  to  come  upon  a  llama  camp  before 
long;  the  drivers  engaged  in  slowly  rounding  up  their 
grazing  beasts  and  inducing  them  to  receive  their 
loads  for  another  day's  work.  In  the  absence  of 
rain,  the  loads  are  merely  piled  up  on  the  ground  so 
as  to  form  a  shelter  from  the  wind  during  the  night. 


156  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

If  showers  threaten,  ponchos  and  tarpaulins  are 
thrown  over  the  heap  of  merchandise. 

Many  of  the  llama  drivers  carried  primitive  mus- 
ical instruments.  The  most  common  form  was  a  bam- 
boo flute  or  flageolet  with  six  holes.  On  these  the 
Indians  succeed  in  playing  weird,  monotonous  airs 
in  which  a  fantastic  reiteration  of  simple  strains  is 
varied  with  occasional  bursts  of  high,  screechy  notes. 
Some  of  the  drivers  had  little  guitars  of  a  very  prim- 
itive construction  on  which  they  thrummed  rather 
monotonously.  Some  had  their  wives  and  children 
with  them.  The  women  were  nearly  always  engaged 
in  spinning  yarn  with  a  wooden  spindle  which  they 
handled  with  the  dexterity  of  a  professional  juggler. 
Two  or  three  men,  and  a  boy  or  so,  generally  accom- 
panied a  caravan  of  sixty  or  seventy  llamas.  Each 
driver  carried  a  knitted  sling  made  of  llama  wool 
and  found  no  lack  of  ammunition  by  the  roadside 
with  which  to  urge  forward  his  flock  or  to  head  off  a 
stray  animal.  We  were  always  amused  when  we  met 
a  drove.  The  leaders  would  approach  gingerly, 
stretching  their  long  necks  and  looking  very  much 
like  timid,  near-sighted  dowagers.  They  scarcely 
knev/  whether  to  advance  or  to  retreat.  A  few  flying 
rocks  from  the  slings  of  the  drivers,  followed  up  by 
encouraging  shouts,  generally  decided  the  leaders 
to  proceed,  but  some  were  so  palpably  **  frightened 
to  death"  by  everything  they  saw,  vv^e  were  sur- 
prised they  had  managed  to  live  so  long.  Occasion- 
ally a  herd  coming  from  Sucre  laden  with  chocolate 
or  sugar  and  bound  eastward,  would  meet  one  com- 
ing from   the  railroad  with  foreign  merchandise. 


THE   ROAD  TO   CHALLAPATA        157 

This  nearly  always  resulted  in  great  confusion  and 
much  shouting.  The  llamas  looked  so  stupid  we 
wondered  how  they  ever  succeeded  in  extricating 
themselves  and  proceeding  in  the  right  direction. 
At  one  point  where  the  road  almost  disappeared 
among  a  wilderness  of  huge,  scattered  boulders,  we 
met  a  large  drove  that  had  lost  all  sense  of  direction. 
Every  attempt  of  the  drivers  to  get  their  animals 
headed  the  same  way  met  with  failure.  The  beasts 
seemed  to  be  infused  with  some  centrifugal  force 
which  sent  every  one  of  them  in  a  different  direction 
from  his  neighbor.  Owing  to  the  huge  rocks,  it  was 
impossible  for  the  poor  creatures  to  see  one  another 
or  the  drivers.   They  may  be  there  yet. 

There  is  something  extremely  amusing  in  the  soft 
tread,  the  awkward  gait,  the  large  innocent  eyes,  and 
the  inquisitive  ears  of  the  llama.  Many  had  the  tips 
of  their  ears  decorated  with  bits  of  colored  worsted. 
I  saw  two  that  were  decked  out  with  very  elaborate 
headdresses.  They  never  seemed  to  be  in  a  hurry, 
any  more  than  their  Indian  drivers,  and  their  dis- 
position is  much  more  gentle  and  inoffensive  than 
I  had  been  led  to  suppose. 

About  ten  miles  from  Ocuri  I  saw  several  fat  liz- 
ards each  about  six  inches  long.  The  altitude  at  the 
time  was  about  fourteen  thousand  feet,  the  record 
height  for  lizards,  so  I  am  told. 

Soon  afterwards  we  got  a  glimpse  to  the  north- 
wards of  the  sharp  peaks  near  Colquechaca,  one  of 
the  highest  towns  in  the  world,  which  owes  its  exist- 
ence, as  do  so  many  of  the  Bolivian  towns,  to  the 
presence  in  its  vicinity  of  rich  silver  mines. 


158  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

We  reached  Macha  at  noon  on  the  third  day,  after 
a  hot  ride  of  thirty  miles  from  Ocuri. 

Macha  is  another  dusty-brown,  Indian  town  lying 
on  the  slopes  of  a  large  valley.  Near  by  we  saw  some 
evidences  of  cultivation.  The  fields  were  surrounded 
with  walls  of  dried  mud  and  had  large  adobe  gates 
reminding  me  of  the  Sogamoso  valley  in  Colombia. 
That  region,  however,  was  so  much  greener  and 
more  fertile  than  this  that  the  resemblance  ceased 
with  the  gates  and  fences.  It  should  be  remembered 
that  the  rainy  season  here  had  only  just  begun. 

As  we  descended  the  east  side  of  the  valley,  we 
met  a  six-mule  coach  on  its  way  from  Challapata  to 
Sucre.  The  curtains  were  drawn  down  on  all  sides 
to  protect  the  passengers  from  the  dust  and  glare. 
Their  outlook  was  rather  limited.  A  quarter  of  a 
mile  beyond  we  met  a  drove  of  relay  coach  mules, 
in  charge  of  two  mounted  postilions. 

There  is  a  moderately  good  coach-road  two  hun- 
dred and  ten  miles  long  from  Sucre  to  Challapata. 
The  coach  runs  fortnightly,  in  pleasant  weather,  and 
takes  five  days  for  the  journey.  Personally,  I  should 
prefer  almost  anything  rather  than  to  be  shut  up  in 
a  Bolivian  coach  and  yanked  over  these  rough,  dusty 
roads,  but  I  suppose  some  people  would  relish  even 
that  better  than  jogging  along  forty  miles  a  day  on 
a  mule,  as  we  chose  to  do. 

We  left  Macha  after  a  light  lunch  but  had  not 
gone  a  mile  before  we  were  pelted  by  a  violent  thun- 
der-shower accompanied  by  hail,  some  of  the  stones 
being  as  large  as  marbles.  To  add  to  our  discomfort 
the  mules  had  made  rapid  marches  since  leaving 


THE  ROAD  TO   CHALLAPATA        159 

Sucre  and  were  very  tired.  The  road  out  of  the  val- 
ley was  steep  and  slippery.  When  we  reached  the 
summit,  the  storm  renewed  its  fury,  and  we  all  shiv- 
ered with  the  cold,  in  contrast  to  the  burning  heat  of 
the  morning.  At  this  height,  whenever  the  sun 
shines,  the  glare  is  trying  and  the  heat  really  uncom- 
fortable. As  soon  as  the  sun  passes  behind  a  cloud, 
however,  one  experiences  all  the  rigors  of  winter. 

We  arrived  at  the  lonely  isolated  poste  of  Acon- 
cawa  just  at  sunset.  The  Aymara  postilions  were  as 
disobliging  as  possible.  Four  or  live  Bolivian  trav- 
ellers had  reached  the  poste  ahead  of  us  and  taken 
possession  of  the  only  available  sleeping  room.  The 
night  was  bitterly  cold  and  wet.  The  altitude  was 
something  over  thirteen  thousand  feet.  After  some 
difficulty,  we  succeeded  in  forcing  our  way  into  a 
room  where  the  cebada  or  barley  straw  was  stored. 
South  of  Potosi  the  fodder  for  the  mules  is  generally 
alfa  or  alfalfa  but  hereabouts  it  is  cebada.  The  In- 
dians were  so  afraid  of  our  damaging  the  straw  by 
sleeping  on  it  that  they  swept  it  up  and  piled  it  on 
one  side  of  the  room  as  high  as  possible,  raising 
clouds  of  fine  dust  in  the  meantime.  The  dust  did 
not  settle  for  many  hours  and  brought  on  asthma 
when  we  tried  to  sleep.  Soon  after  leaving  Acon- 
cawa,  Fermin's  sharp  eyes  detected  three  vicuiias, 
feeding,  a  mile  away  to  the  south  of  us.  I  could 
barely  make  them  out  with  powerful  field-glasses 
and  should  never  have  seen  them  at  all  but  for  the 
keen-eyed  gaucho.  It  seemed  strange  that  these 
should  be  the  only  vicuiias  which  we  saw  in  a  wild 
state  in  our  entire  journey  in  southern  Bolivia. 


i69  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Travellers  fifty  years  ago  speak  of  meeting  them  con- 
stantly in  the  more  desolate  parts  of  the  mountains. 
Before  the  great  demand  arose  for  vicufia  rugs,those 
highly-prized  trophies  of  the  casual  visitor,  these 
graceful  and  beautiful  creatures,  with  their  fawn- 
colored  coats,  were  one  of  the  most  interesting  fea- 
tures of  travel  in  the  lonely  upland  pastures  of  the 
Bolivian  and  Peruvian  mountains. 

On  the  little  plain  near  the  vicuiias  were  a  few 
pools  of  water  that  seemed  to  be  a  feeding-ground 
for  a  few  pigeons  and  some  birds  that  looked  like 
Titicaca  gulls.  An  occasional  earth-colored  guinea- 
pig  was  practically  the  only  other  wild  animal  we 
could  discover. 

Soon  after  seeing  the  vicuiias  we  continued  to 
climb  by  a  zigzag  road  until  we  reached  the  highest 
point  in  this  journey,  the  ridge  of  Livichuco,  fifteen 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  Neither  mules  or  llamas 
seemed  to  mind  this  altitude  but  we  found  it  very 
chilly  and  disagreeable  and  were  glad  enough  to  de- 
scend as  quickly  as  possible  without  wasting  much 
time  in  enjoying  the -extensive  view  over  the  rock- 
strewn  hills  about  us.  It  may  seem  strange  that  we 
did  not  stop  to  rhapsodize  on  the  fact  that  we  were 
now  leaving  the  basin  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  or  on 
the  extensive  panorama.  But  the  latter  was  so  cold, 
desolate,  and  forbidding,  the  only  effect  was  to  make 
us  urge  foru  ard  the  mules  at  as  rapid  a  pace  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  mountains  were  not  snow-capped  although, 
at  times,  we  had  had  light  storms  of  hail  and  snow. 
This  was  particularly  true  of  the  afternoons,  the 


A   FRIENDLY    LLAMA    HABY 


MY    MULE   ON    THE    LAST   DAY'S    RIDE 


THE   ROAD   TO   CHALLAPATA        i6i 

mornings  being  generally  fine  and  clear.  As  we 
went  west,  the  valleys  grew  broader.  We  occasion- 
ally passed  over  level  plains  four  or  five  miles  wide. 
We  had  now  crossed  the  watershed  and  left  the  basin 
of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  and  its  affluents  for  that  of 
Lake  Poopo  and  the  Bolivian  tableland. 

Descending,  we  came  to  valleys  that  offered  suffi- 
cient grass  to  support  a  large  number  of  llamas,  al- 
pacas, and  sheep.  This  region  seems  to  be  a  favorite 
breeding-place  for  the  llamas  and  we  saw  a  number 
of  baby  llamas.  One  of  the  latter,  almost  entirely 
black  as  to  its  body  and  legs,  with  black  ears,  re- 
sembling the  horns  of  a  carnival  devil,  and  a  white 
face  that  looked  like  a  mask,  was  so  interested  in  my 
efforts  to  take  his  picture  that  he  walked  up  to  within 
eight  feet  of  my  mule,  much  to  his  mother's  alarm. 

A  cold  wind  and  a  cloudy  sky  that  kept  the  sun 
from  offering  any  warmth  made  our  arrival  at  the 
poste  of  Livichuco  anything  but  pleasant.  To  add 
to  our  discomforts,  Bolivian  travellers  had  again  ar- 
rived ahead  of  us  and  monopolized  everything  in 
sight,  as  the  scanty  accommodations  of  this  wretched 
tambo  were  insufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of  both 
parties.  A  few  eggs  was  all  the  postilions  could  offer 
for  our  entertainment,  and  as  these  turned  out  to  be 
rotten  their  willingness  to  sell  food  was  not  appre- 
ciated. 

The  morning  had  been  cloudy,  cold,  and  disagree- 
able but  the  afternoon  was  worse.  Clouds  of  dust 
and  peals  of  thunder  ushered  in  the  usual  storm. 
Our  road,  however,  was  not  as  rocky  and  precip- 
itous as  on  the  preceding  days.  We  crossed  several 


i62  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

broad  plains,  joined  the  Potosi-Challapata  trail  and 
passed  near  Vilcapujio,  another  of  the  battlefields 
of  the  War  of  Independence.  In  1813  the  soldiers 
of  Buenos  Aires  had  again  invaded  Bolivia  to  assist 
the  patriots  of  Uppeft-  Peru.  They  reached  Potosi 
in  safety  and  were  on  their  way  north  to  Oruro  when 
they  were  met  here  at  the  fork  in  the  road  and  de- 
feated by  the  Spaniards.  A  few  days  later  came  the 
battle  of  Ayoma,  near  Macha.  The  result  was  tem- 
porarily fatal  to  the  cause  of  Bolivian  independence. 

We  had  another  unpleasant  experience  on  our 
arrival  at  Ancacato,  on  the  evening  of  the  fourth 
day.  Bolivian  travellers  had,  as  before,  taken  posses- 
sion of  all  the  available  rooms  and  we  had  a  hard 
time  persuading  the  master  of  the  poste  to  allow  us 
to  remain. 

At  a  distance  of  two  or  three  miles  from  the  tamho 
is  the  old  Indian  town  of  Ancacato  lying  spread  out 
on  the  level  floor  of  the  valley  which  was  at  present 
brown  and  desolate  although  it  had  signs  of  being 
cultivated  in  the  rainy  season.  Like  other  Indian 
towns,  the  only  conspicuous  feature  of  Ancacato  was 
the  tower  of  its  large  church.  The  rest  of  the  town 
consisted  of  brown  huts  as  much  as  possible  like  the 
color  of  the  hills. 

The  next  morning  we  met  an  unusually  large  num- 
ber of  llamas  on  their  way  from  Challapata  to  the 
interior  carrying  small  boxes  of  European  merchan- 
dise. The  monotony  of  this  morning's  ride  was  va- 
ried by  the  spectacle  of  a  mounted  Indian  trying, 
like  "Mac,"  to  drive  a  pack  mule  that  was  quite 
unaccustomed  to  such  service  and  most  unwilling 


THE  ROAD  TO   CHALLAPATA       163 

to  keep  the  road.  There  are  no  fences  or  walls  to 
mark  off  the  road  from  the  surrounding  country  and 
an  active  pack  animal  can  take  to  the  hill  as  often  as 
he  pleases.  Most  of  them  are  either  too  weary,  too 
tame  or  too  well  acquainted  with  the  punishment 
that  follows,  to  attempt  such  amusements,  but  this 
one  was  new  at  the  game  and  he  led  his  driver  a 
merry  chase  over  frightful  rocky  slopes,  up  and 
down  precipitous  hillsides,  and  through  the  dry  bed 
of  a  stream.  "Anywhere  and  everywhere"  seemed 
to  be  his  motto. 

A  short  hour's  ride  brought  us  through  the  pass 
over  the  Cordillera  de  los  Frailes  and  out  onto  the 
great  tableland  where  the  horizon  on  every  side,  ex- 
cept behind  us,  seemed  to  be  as  level  as  the  ocean. 
Far  away  to  the  southwest  we  could  just  make  out 
the  dark  lines  and  specks  that  denoted  the  where- 
abouts of  Challapata  and  the  railway  station. 

Challapata  is  an  old  Indian  town,  but  there  has 
grown  up  at  some  distance  from  it,  near  the  railway, 
a  little  modern  settlement  where  white- washed  ware- 
houses, hotels,  stores,  and  a  telegraph  office  offer  a 
marked  contrast  to  the  brown  mud-huts  of  the  more 
ancient  city.  The  population  is  said  to  be  more  than 
two  thousand  souls.  Of  these  by  far  the  larger  part 
are  Aymaras  who  speak  little  or  no  Spanish.  The 
streets  of  the  new  town  are  wide  and  sandy,  hot  and 
glary  like  some  of  our  western  towns.  We  thought 
the  hotel  was  most  comfortable  and  even  luxurious, 
after  our  experience  of  the  past  few  weeks,  but  I  dare 
say  that  the  traveller  coming  the  other  way  would 
turn  up  his  nose  at  its  primitive  accommodations. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ORURO   TO  ANTOFAGASTA  AND   VALPARAISO 

NOTWITHSTANDING  its  Comfortable  beds,  wash- 
stands,  and  billiard- table,  we  were  glad  enough 
to  leave  the  hotel  at  Challapata  and  take  the  train 
for  Oruro.  Our  only  regret  was  that  we  had  to  say 
good-by  to  old  Fermin  whose  faithfulness  in  his  care 
not  only  of  the  mules  but  of  ourselves,  had  made  us 
grow  very  fond  of  him.  We  gave  him  a  little  gratu- 
ity which  he  almost  immediately  offered  to  Mr. 
Smith  in  exchange  for  a  cheap  silver  watch  the  latter 
had  purchased  in  Jujuy! 

On  our  way  northward  to  Oruro  we  got  distant 
glimpses  of  the  saline  waters  of  Lake  Poopo  that  re- 
ceives the  overflow  from  Lake  Titicaca  by  means  of 
the  Desaguadero  River  but  has  no  outlet  of  its  own. 
On  our  right  were  the  low  summits  of  the  Cordillera 
de  los  Frailes  and  on  the  intervening  plain  was  an 
occasional  town  with  brown  huts  and  a  conspicuous 
church.  Once  in  a  while  we  saw  chulpas,  so-called 
"Inca  tombs,"  really  Aymard,  in  which  interesting 
remains  are  often  found.  The  Ferrocarril  Antofa- 
gasta- Bolivia,  a  very  narrow-gauge  road  constructed 
and  managed  by  Englishmen,  was  built  to  reach  the 
important  silver  mines  of  Huanchaca  which,  in  the 
early  '90's,  exported  annually  eight  million  ounces 
of  silver.  Once  on  the  plateau,  it  was  an  easy  matter 


ORURO  165 

to  connect  the  railroad  with  Oruro  whose  output  of 
silver  at  that  time  was  about  a  million  and  a  half 
ounces.  Furthermore,  Colquechaca,  with  an  equal 
output,  was  only  two  days  away  and  pack  trains 
could  bring  the  silver  readily  to  the  railway. 

The  road  has  proved  to  be  a  splendid  investment, 
yet  Great  Britain  has  never  favored  Bolivia  with 
much  capital.  Apart  from  this  line  and  a  small  bit 
of  railroad  near  La  Paz,  there  are  almost  no  British 
enterprises  in  the  country.  It  is  said  that  even 
Ecuador,  backward  as  it  is,  has  twenty  times  as 
much  British  capital  as  Bolivia,  while  Argentina  has 
two  hundred  times  as  much. 

The  ride  to  Oruro  was  devoid  of  interest  except 
for  a  conversation  which  I  had  with  a  distinguished 
Bolivian  physician  who  had  recently  come  from  the 
eastern  provinces  where  he  assured  me  lay  the  real 
wealth  of  his  country.  He  was  most  enthusiastic 
about  the  possibilities  of  the  Gran  Chaco  as  a  region 
likely  some  day  to  be  well  populated.  Although  a 
native  of  this  part  of  Bolivia,  he  told  me  that  every 
time  he  came  back  to  this  altitude,  he  suffered  from 
soroche  or  mountain  sickness.  I  was  told  by  several 
other  Bolivianos  that  they  too  suffered  from  soroche 
whenever  they  came  up  from  the  lower  elevation, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  author  of  a  recent 
book  on  South  America  says  that  the  Bolivianos 
themselves  never  suffer  from  this  infirmity. 

We  reached  Oruro  shortly  after  dark  and  were 
met  by  a  pleasant- faced  Austrian  hotel  proprietor 
who  obligingly  put  us  on  board  of  a  mule-drawn 
tram-car.    A  few  minutes  later  we  stopped  in  front 


I66  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  the  Grand  Hotel  de  Francia  y  Inglaterra  and  were 
back  in  the  civilized  world  again. 

There  are  tw^o  comfortable  hotels  in  Oruro  and  an 
excellent  Union  Club  where  all  nationalities  come  to 
enjoy  themselves.  Besides  this,  a  German  club  has 
recently  been  started.  Another  feature  of  Oruro, 
which  we  might  not  have  noticed  had  we  approached 
it  from  the  civilized  instead  of  the  uncivilized  side 
of  the  world,  was  a  rather  palatial  public  billiard-hall 
or  casino  where  a  dozen  or  fifteen  good  tables,  and 
an  elaborate  bar,  attracted  every  evening  a  crowd 
of  foreign  engineers,  clerks,  and  bookkeepers. 

The  climate  of  Oruro  is  cold  and  forbidding,  the 
thermometer  in  the  shade  usually  being  50°  F.  The 
rainy  season  commences  in  November  and  lasts 
until  March;  January  and  February  being  the  rain- 
iest months.  During  our  summer  the  weather  here 
is  intensely  cold  and  snow-storms  are  not  infrequent. 
To  the  west  and  south  of  the  city  are  barren  hills  and 
the  general  lack  of  foliage  makes  the  place  rather 
melancholy,  muy  triste. 

The  next  morning  we  crossed  the  plaza  to  the  fine 
large  government  building  where  the  Prefect  lives 
and  has  his  offices.  The  present  incumbent,  Dr. 
Moises  Ascarrunz,  was  most  kind  and  attentive.  He 
received  us  in  state,  opened  champagne,  drank  our 
health  and  then  drove  us  out  in  the  state  carriage  to 
a  rifle  range  where,  as  it  was  a  holiday,  the  local 
sporting  club  was  holding  a  match. 

The  Prefect  has  taken  great  interest  in  the  club 
and  it  has  thriven  under  his  patronage.  The  facili- 
ties for  rifle  practice  are  excellent,  and  we  saw  some 


ORURO  167 

capital  shooting.  After  a  light  lunch  of  beer  and 
sandwiches  at  the  pleasant  little  club  house,  the  Pre- 
fect showed  us  the  sights  of  the  town. 

In  his  annual  report  which  was  just  off  the  press 
at  the  time  of  our  visit,  he  calls  special  attention  to 
the  bad  condition  of  the  pastes  on  the  road  from 
Sucre  to  Challapata!  We  were  not  inclined  to  dis- 
pute his  criticism. 

One  day  during  our  stay,  a  government  procla- 
mation was  heralded  about  town  in  the  usual  fash- 
ion. The  local  regiment  of  infantry  paraded  through 
the  principal  streets,  stopping  at  the  important  cor- 
ners while  the  colonel  read  the  proclamation  in  a 
loud  voice.  The  colonel  seemed  so  strong  and  healthy 
that  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  learn  on  my  return  to 
Oruro  a  few  weeks  later  that  he  had  been  taken  down 
with  one  of  the  sudden  pulmonary  fevers  of  this  alti- 
tude and  died  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours. 

A  pleasant  German-American,  In  charge  of  the 
local  agency  of  a  large  New  York  commercial  house, 
told  us  that  it  was  not  at  all  uncommon  for  a  man  to 
get  a  chill  on  his  way  home  from  an  evening  party 
and  die  the  next  day  of  galloping  pneumonia.  The 
explanation  seems  to  be  that  at  this  altitude  (13,000 
feet)  one  needs  all  the  lung  capacity  one  has,  as  the 
air  is  so  rare.  A  congestive  chill  Is  followed  by  such 
a  dangerous  loss  in  the  capacity  to  receive  oxygen, 
that  the  patient  soon  succumbs  and  dies. 

The  shops  of  Oruro,  as  might  be  expected  of  a  min- 
ing city  that  has  been  for  several  years  in  communi- 
cation by  rail  and  steam  with  the  outside  world,  con- 
tain a  great  variety  of  imported  merchandise.  One, 


i68  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

owned  by  Spaniards,  Is  devoted  almost  exclusively 
to  the  manufactured  products  of  Spain.  Another, 
owned  by  a  German,  contains  an  indefinite  variety 
of  goods  "made  in  Germany."  Two  or  three  book 
shops  contain  several  thousand  volumes  of  Spanish 
and  French  literature,  law  and  medicine.  There  is 
also  a  small  public  library  and  reading-room  and  the 
city  hopes  to  have  a  large  accession  to  the  number 
of  its  books  in  the  near  future. 

I  called  on  one  of  the  local  physicians,  not  profes- 
sionally, but  because  I  had  heard  of  a  remarkable 
collection  of  Bolivian  pamphlets  and  manuscripts 
that  he  possessed.  One  gets  so  accustomed  to  shift- 
lessness  and  uncleanliness  in  South  America  that  I 
could  scarcely  believe  my  eyes  when  I  found  myself 
in  an  office  whose  spotless  white  furniture  and  asep- 
tic glass  cases  of  modern  surgical  instruments  would 
not  have  been  considered  out  of  place  on  Madison 
Avenue.  The  surgeon  had  been  educated  at  the 
Chilean  Medical  School  in  Santiago  although  he  was 
a  Bolivian  by  birth.  His  collection  of  manuscripts 
and  prints  was  an  extraordinary  one,  but  I  must 
confess  that  his  up-to-date  professional  methods  in- 
terested and  surprised  me  more  than  his  extensive 
bibliographical  learning.  After  having  witnessed 
unspeakable  conditions  in  the  leading  hospital  of 
Venezuela  at  Caracas  where,  as  readers  of  my  "Jour- 
nal" will  recollect,  surgeons  educated  in  Paris  and 
New  York  worked  in  an  operating  theatre  that  had 
for  its  motto,  "  Those  who  spit  are  requested  not  to 
stand  near  the  table  during  operations,''  I  am  afraid 
my  views  of  South  American  surgery,  outside  of  such 


ORURO  169 

cities  as  Buenos  Aires  and  Santiago,  had  hitherto 
been  decidedly  uncomplimentary. 

Oruro  owes  its  importance  to  valuable  silver  and 
tin  mines  in  its  vicinity.  There  are  several  large 
smelters  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  the  offices 
of  a  number  of  important  mining  companies  are  to 
be  found  here.  Certain  parts  of  Oruro  are  not  pleas- 
ant places  in  which  to  take  a  walk.  In  fact,  I  never 
felt  more  uncomfortable  in  my  life  than  I  did  on  a 
solitary  expedition  in  which  I  found  myself  among 
a  lot  of  half-drunken  miners  of  all  nationalities  who 
were  hanging  about  the  doors  of  a  choice  collection 
of  grog-shops.  The  fearless,  impudent  stare  of  the 
Aymaras  was  no  less  unpleasant  than  the  menacing 
looks  of  three  or  four  burly  Anglo-Saxon  miners  who 
had  spent  their  last  cent  for  drinks  and  were  looking 
for  more. 

The  silver  mines  have  largely  been  abandoned  and 
the  principal  industry  is  connected  with  the  tin  de- 
posits. No  mines  were  discovered  here  until  some 
years  after  those  of  Potosi  and  they  never  produced 
as  much  silver,  although,  during  the  colonial  epoch, 
they  ranked  easily  second. 

Oruro  was  founded  about  the  time  that  the  Dutch 
landed  on  Manhattan  Island.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century  there  was  already  a  popu- 
lation of  76,000.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  the  city 
stood  next  to  Potosi  in  wealth  and  importance. 

Some  of  the  churches  still  show  the  marks  of  that 
elegance  with  which  they  were  ornamented  during 
the  period  of  Oruro's  palmy  days.  There  are,  how- 
ever, few  remains  of  any  fine  edifices.   Indeed,  we 


lyo  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

are  told  by  "El  Lazarillo"  in  1773  that  "in  this 
great  city  one  will  not  encounter  a  single  building 
that  corresponds  at  all  to  the  immense  fortunes 
which  have  been  spent  here,  during  the  past  two  hun- 
dred years,  in  an  excess  of  parades,  shows,  games, 
and  banquets." 

When  the  price  of  tin  went  up,  a  few  years  ago, 
Oruro  enjoyed  a  boom.  Old  buildings  were  torn 
down  and  pretentious  new  ones  begun.  Some  of 
them  were  only  partly  completed  when  tin  fell  and 
the  boom  collapsed.  The  population  now  is  about 
sixteen  thousand,  although  during  the  boom  it  rose 
to  over  twenty  thousand,  of  whom  more  than  five 
thousand  were  foreigners.  A  good  percentage  were 
Chileans. 

Apart  from  its  importance  as  a  mining  centre, 
Oruro  has  for  some  time  been  distinguished  as  a  rail- 
road terminal.  A  line  from  here  to  Potosi  is  planned. 
A  line  from  Oruro  to  Cochabamba,  on  whose  fertile 
valleys  Oruro  depends  for  its  food-supply,  is  in  course 
of  construction.  The  Bolivia  Railway's  line  to  La 
Paz  has  recently  been  completed.  The  road  to  An- 
tofagasta  has  been  running  since  1892. 

Oruro  is  nearly  six  hundred  miles  from  Antofa- 
gasta  and  the  journey  used  formerly  to  take  three 
days,  for  trains  were  only  run  by  daylight  and  at 
slow  speed.  We  found,  however,  that  the  road-bed 
had  been  improved,  although  the  track  was  not 
widened,  and  a  vestibuled  train  with  two  compart- 
ment sleeping-cars  and  a  restaurant-car  can  now 
make  the  journey  from  Oruro  to  Antofagasta  in  two 
nights  and  a  day.  Three  times  a  week  a  Bolivia 


A  QUAINl'  OLD  BALCONY  IN  ORURO 


A  CORNER  IN  ORURO 


ORURO  171 

railway  train  leaves  La  Paz  in  the  morning  and  ar- 
rives at  Oruro  late  in  the  afternoon.  Once  a  week, 
as  soon  after  the  arrival  of  this  train  as  possible,  the 
new  vestibuled  train  starts  for  Antofagasta.  There 
is  no  chance  for  a  through  service,  for  the  Bolivia 
Railway  has  a  meter  gauge,  while  the  Antofagasta 
line  is  only  three-quarters  of  a  meter  wide.  Further- 
more owing  to  some  unfortunate  squabble  between 
the  railroad  companies,  the  stations  are  located  at 
some  distance  from  one  another,  and  the  traveller 
must  get  across  the  town  as  best  he  may. 

When  the  Antogafasta  line  was  completed,  Oruro 
increased  in  population  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  the 
admiring  Bolivians  called  their  city  the  "Chicago  of 
Bolivia."  The  only  resemblance,  however,  that  I 
was  able  to  discover  was  this  forced  transfer  across 
the  city.  The  streets  of  Oruro  which  one  has  to  cross 
in  going  from  one  terminal  station  to  the  other  are 
not  paved,  and  the  traveller  who  happens  to  take 
the  journey  in  the  rainy  reason,  when  the  roads  are 
two  feet  deep  in  mud,  will  wish  this  were  Chicago! 

The  departure  of  the  weekly  train  for  Antofagasta 
is  just  as  much  of  an  event  for  Oruro  as  that  of  the 
weekly  steamer  is  for  a  port  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
or  the  West  Indies.  Every  one  who  can  comes  down 
to  the  station,  and  those  who  can  afford  it  crowd 
into  the  restaurant  car,  order  drinks  and  enjoy  the 
iced  luxuries  just  as  the  residents  of  the  Caribbean 
ports  do  when  a  mail-steamer  calls. 

We  had  been  advised  by  friends  in  New  York  not 
to  attempt  to  use  this  railway  as  it  was  only  intended 
to  carry  ore  and  no  one  cared  how  many  passengers 


172  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

were  killed.  It  did  give  one  a  creepy  feeling  to  see 
a  heavy  sleeping-car  balanced  on  rails  that  were  only 
twenty-eight  inches  apart.  It  seemed  like  riding  on 
a  monorail  and  I  could  not  help  wondering  whether, 
if  the  berths  on  one  side  of  the  sleeping-car  should 
happen  to  be  filled  first,  the  car  would  not  capsize. 
Evidently  this  thought  had  occurred  to  the  builders 
of  the  car,  for  by  an  ingenious  arrangement  the 
berths  are  all  in  the  centre  of  the  car,  directly  over 
the  rails ! 

We  left  Oruro  at  dusk  and  during  the  night  passed 
through  Challapata,  the  end  of  our  mule  trip,  and 
Uyuni,  where  Don  Santiago's  stages  start  for  Potosi, 
Tupiza,  and  La  Quiaca  via  Cotagaita. 

The  scenery  early  next  morning  was  not  impres- 
sive. Before  long,  however,  gigantic  volcanic  peaks 
twenty  thousand  feet  high  rose  into  view,  one  of 
them,  the  volcano  of  Ollawe,  emitting  a  tiny  cloud  of 
sulphurous  steam  that  gives  a  yellow  stain  to  its 
snow-capped  peak.  We  soon  left  behind  the  great 
sandy  tableland  of  Bolivia,  that  veritable  Thibetan 
Sahara,  and  began  climbing  out  of  the  great  plateau 
through  the  western  Cordillera. 

At  one  of  the  stations  an  Indian  came  aboard  the 
train  with  a  young  vicuna  that  he  had  raised  as  a  pet 
and  which  he  was  taking  to  be  sold  to  a  gentleman 
in  Chile. 

About  noon  we  crossed  the  frontier.  Our  train 
was  boarded  by  two  officials.  One  of  them  was  a  Bo- 
livian, seeing  to  it  that  departing  passengers  did  not 
take  any  gold  out  of  the  country  and  violate  the  law 
which  prevents  any  exportation  of  the  yellow  metal. 


ORURO  173 

The  other  was  a  polite  Chilean  customs  officer.  Their 
inspection  of  the  luggage  was  very  superficial.  In 
the  afternoon,  at  Ascotan,  after  crossing  a  pass  thir- 
teen thousand  feet  high,  we  commenced  the  descent 
and  soon  reached  the  banks  of  that  wonderful  white 
sea  of  borax,  glistening  like  snow  in  the  sun,  which 
has  made  this  region  famous. 

The  mountains  were  grand  and  inspiring  but  we 
were  so  tired  of  seeing  barren  brown  hillsides  that 
we  longed  for  something  green,  and  yet  the  further 
we  went,  the  more  desolate  became  the  country. 
We  had  entered  the  nitrate  region  which  is  part  of 
that  magnificent  desert  that  extends  for  two  thous- 
and miles  up  and  down  the  west  coast  of  South 
America. 

In  the  evening  we  stopped  for  a  few  minutes  at 
Calama,  a  small  town  but  important  as  a  nitrate 
centre.  It  has  a  moderately  good  water-supply  which 
enables  it  to  present  an  attractive  greenness  in  con- 
trast to  the  absolute  aridity  of  the  surrounding  de- 
sert. In  this  region  are  several  mines  of  silver,  gold, 
and  copper. 

Calama  was  the  scene  of  some  skirmishing  dur- 
ing the  revolution  against  Balmaceda  in  1891,  but 
its  chief  claim  to  fame  rests  on  a  battle  that  was 
fought  here  in  the  war  between  Chile,  Bolivia,  and 
Peru  in  1879,  when  Bolivia  lost  her  seaport  and 
Chile  made  a  large  increase  to  her  territory  at  the 
expense  of  her  two  northern  neighbors.  The  first 
thing  that  Chile  did  after  war  was  declared  was  to 
attack  the  unprotected  Bolivian  seaport  of  Antofa- 
gasta.   The  majority  of  the  population  of  Antofa- 


174  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

gasta  were  Chileans  and  the  small  garrison  was  quite 
unable  to  offer  any  adequate  resistance  to  the  Chil- 
ean invaders,  so  the  Bolivian  authorities  retreated 
at  once  to  Calama.  Thither  the  Chileans  sent  six 
hundred  men  to  attack  one  hundred  and  forty.  Al- 
though the  Bolivian  forces  took  up  a  strong  position 
the  Chileans  had  the  advantage  of  superior  num- 
bers and  won  an  overwhelming  victory.  The  affair 
was  insignificant  except  that  it  destroyed  all  the 
hold  that  Bolivia  had  on  her  seacoast. 

During  the  night,  we  passed  through  a  large  num- 
ber of  little  stations  in  the  nitrate  country.  Early 
the  next  morning,  as  the  last  half  hour  of  the  railway 
journey,  came  an  exciting  ride  down  a  steep  grade 
in  full  view  of  the  beautiful  blue  waters  of  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean.  After  weeks  of  everlasting  browns,  it 
w^as  a  tremendous  relief  to  our  eyes  to  see  such  an 
expanse  of  blue.  Of  course  no  green  was  to  be  ex- 
pected in  this  vicinity.   But  blue  did  just  as  well. 

The  railroad  runs  for  some  distance  parallel  to  the 
shore  back  of  the  town  until  it  enters  the  terminal 
station.  We  had  left  Oruro  Thursday  at  6:30  p.  m., 
were  in  Calami  by  nine  o'clock  Friday  evening,  and 
reached  Antofagasta  soon  after  seven  o'clock  Satur- 
day morning. 

Hardly  were  we  established  in  a  hotel  when  we 
learned  that  the  steamer  Mexico,  of  the  Pacific 
Steam  Navigation  Company,  was  to  sail  that  morn- 
ing for  Valparaiso.  We  had  had  no  chance  to  explore 
the  sandy  streets  and  well-stocked  shops  of  Antofa- 
gasta, but  this  was  the  first  steamer  to  sail  for  six  or 
seven  days  and  it  might  be  a  week  before  there 


ORURO  175 

would  be  another.  Furthermore,  there  was  little  to 
tempt  us  in  this  modern  seaport  with  its  ugly,  gal- 
vanized-iron  workshops  and  warehouses.  So  we  de- 
cided to  board  the  Mexico  as  fast  as  possible. 

The  harbor  was  crowded  with  boats  and  barges. 
A  few  steamers  and  sailing-vessels  were  lying  at 
anchor  waiting  for  cargoes  of  minerals  of  one  sort  or 
another,  mostly  nitrates  and  copper. 

Antofagasta  is  a  seaport  of  considerable  import- 
ance, being  the  port  of  entry  for  a  large  part  of  Bo- 
livia and  northern  Chile.  Yet  it  shares  with  Mol- 
lendo  the  reputation  of  being  the  worst  harbor  on 
the  west  coast  of  South  America.  There  is  little  pro- 
tection against  westerly  and  southerly  winds.  Even 
in  calm  weather  there  is  a  considerable  swell  at  the 
boat-landing. 

Once  in  the  boat,  however,  we  were  charmed  by 
the  gambols  of  inquisitive  sea-lions  who  thrust  their 
snouts  out  of  the  water,  a  biscuit-toss  away  from  the 
boat.  As  a  counter  attraction  great  flocks  of  birds 
flew  in  circles  overhead  looking  for  schools  of  fish 
that  swim  in  this  bay.  As  soon  as  a  school  was  lo- 
cated, the  entire  flock  of  birds  would  pause  an  in- 
stant and  then  dive  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning 
from  the  airy  height  straight  into  the  billows,  leav- 
ing only  a  splash  of  white  water  to  show  where  they 
had  gone.  Another  moment  and  they  came  to  the 
surface,  shook  themselves,  flapped  their  wings,  and 
were  away  again  to  enjoy  another  magnificent  dive 
a  little  later. 

I  had  heard  much  of  the  terrors  of  steamship  travel 
on  the  West  Coast.   Passengers  who  had  recently 


176  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

experienced  it  assured  me  that  it  was  simply  horri- 
ble. We  must  have  been  very  lucky,  for  we  found 
the  Mexico  most  comfortable  and  quite  as  good  as 
one  could  expect  in  this  part  of  the  world.  Of  course 
she  was  neither  so  large  nor  so  luxurious  as  the  aver- 
age trans- Atlantic  liner.  On  the  other  hand  she  was 
not  intended  to  carry  luxury-loving  travellers  three 
thousand  miles  over  a  rough  ocean  and  keep  them 
amused,  contented,  and  well-fed  for  a  week.  Her 
task  consists  in  stopping  every  afternoon,  anchoring 
in  a  badly-sheltered  bay  or  an  open  roadstead,  land- 
ing passengers,  merchandise,  and  cattle  into  row- 
boats  and  barges,  taking  on  cargoes  of  hides,  coffee, 
or  provisions;  and  meanwhile  acting  as  a  home  for 
itinerant  greengrocers  whose  business  it  is  to  pro- 
vide this  two  thousand  mile  desert  with  fresh  vege- 
tables. Furthermore  she  was  built  to  sail  over  the 
comparatively  smooth  waters  of  the  tropical  Pacific 
Ocean  and  provide  for  passengers  who  are  travelling 
in  a  climate  of  perpetual  spring  and  summer.  All  of 
this  she  does  admirably. 

The  staterooms  opened  onto  the  promenade  deck. 
There  was  a  well-stocked  library  of  fiction  with  books 
in  four  languages.  The  Chilean  stewards  were  polite 
and  obliging.  Altogether  we  had  little  to  find  fault 
with.  The  food  might  have  been  a  little  better,  but 
when  one  looked  toward  the  land  and  saw  that  bleak 
desert  coast  continuing  for  hour  after  hour  and  day 
after  day  and  realized  that  in  the  mountains  behind 
it  there  were  even  greater  desert  solitudes,  it  did  not 
seem  surprising  that  the  food  was  not  up  to  our  ideas 
of  what  it  should  be  on  board  an  ocean  steamer. 


ORURO  177 

Most  of  the  passengers  were  natives  of  the  West 
Coast.  To  them  the  diet  seemed  quite  luxurious. 
To  us  who  had  come  from  the  pastes  of  southern  Bo- 
livia the  table  fairly  groaned  with  abundance.  I 
can  readily  believe  that  a  traveller,  who,  while  on  his 
way  south  from  Panama  to  Lima,  has  his  first  South 
American  meals  on  board  of  one  of  these  West  Coast 
steamers  would  find  the  fare  distressingly  bad  and 
the  boats  not  very  clean.  Perhaps  the  discipline 
would  seem  lax  and  the  service  execrable.  It  all  de- 
pends on  one's  point  of  view. 

If  one  is  going  to  travel  in  South  America  at  all, 
it  is  necessary  to  make  up  one's  mind  to  put  up  with 
a  lot  of  this  sort  of  thing.  It  need  only  be  remem- 
bered that  these  boats  are  as  safe  and  comfortable 
as  those  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  that  they 
have  better  accommodations  than  will  be  found  any- 
where in  South  America  outside  of  half  a  dozen 
cities. 

The  first  day  after  leaving  Antofagasta  brought 
us  to  Caldera.  On  the  second  day  we  reached  Co- 
quimbo  which  seems  to  be  a  flourishing  seaport.  Of 
course  there  are  no  wharves,  but  the  bay  is  fairly 
well  protected  and  steamers  are  able  to  anchor 
within  three  quarters  of  a  mile  of  the  landing-stage. 
New  villas  in  course  of  construction  on  the  heights 
at  the  south  end  of  the  bay  testify  to  the  prosperity 
of  two  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the  place. 

Devoted  as  Coquimbo  has  been  to  commercial 
pursuits,  very  little  attention  has  been  given  to  mak- 
ing the  buildings  attractive,  and  only  recently  has 
an  effort  been  made  to  improve  the  appearance  of 


178  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

the  plaza.  I  visited  tw^o  book  shops  In  the  hopes  of 
getting  some  local  prints  and  found  a  recently  pub- 
lished anthology  of  the  poets  of  Coquimbo!  The 
books  for  the  most  part  were  those  such  as  are  found 
in  the  usual  South  American  book  store:  French 
novels,  French  text-books,  a  few  Spanish  novels,  and 
the  local  legal  commentaries  and  law  books. 

It  is  a  night's  journey  by  steamer  from  Coquimbo 
to  Valparaiso.  The  temperature  was  much  cooler 
than  we  had  expected,  and  grew  more  so  as  we  neared 
Valparaiso.  To  be  sure,  Valparaiso  is  as  far  south  of 
the  equator  as  San  Francisco  is  north  and  the  same 
general  climatic  conditions  prevail. 

The  beautiful  bay  and  harbor  of  Valparaiso  have 
been  repeatedly  described  by  enthusiastic  visitors  for 
many  years.  Since  the  terrible  earthquake  of  1906, 
the  city  has  lost  much  of  its  beauty,  although  many 
of  the  buildings  have  been  restored  and  business  is 
going  on  quite  briskly.  In  the  harbor  were  fifteen  or 
twenty  ocean  steamers  lying  at  anchor,  two  or  three 
Chilean  men-of-war  and  two  large  floating  dry 
docks  capable  of  taking  care  of  the  West  Coast  mer- 
chant steamers. 

The  naval  dry  dock  Is  at  Talcahuano.  Although 
Valparaiso  is  the  principal  seaport  on  the  West 
Coast,  there  are  no  wharves.  The  business  section 
is  built  on  the  old  beach  and  on  a  terrace.  The  hills 
rise  abruptly  from  this  narrow  shelf  and  the  residen- 
tial district  is  on  the  hills.  Elevators  and  trolley- 
lines  connect  the  upper  and  the  lower  city.  The  rail- 
road station  is  very  near  the  boat-landing. 

The  railway  fares  were  very  moderate  and  the  offi- 


ORURO  179 

cials  of  the  road  seemed  to  us  quite  courteous  and 
obliging  although,  during  our  stay  in  Santiago,  we 
read  in  one  of  the  local  newspapers  a  letter  from  a 
lady  globe-trotter  who  declared  the  Chilean  railway 
officials  were  the  rudest  and  most  disobliging  that 
she  had  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  Chilean  rail- 
ways have  grown  tremendously  during  the  past  four- 
teen years.  At  the  time  of  the  revolution  against 
Balmaceda,  in  1892,  there  were  barely  seven  hun- 
dred miles;  while,  at  the  time  of  the  Scientific  Con- 
gress, the  trackage  had  increased  to  three  thousand 
miles  of  which  half  is  owned  and  operated  by  the 
government.  More  lines  are  in  course  of  construction. 

Valparaiso  is  the  commercial  capital  of  Chile  and 
her  Stock  Exchange  determines  the  rate  of  exchange. 
The  shops  of  Valparaiso  are  filled  with  things  that 
appeal  to  Anglo-Saxons,  for  there  is  a  large  British 
colony  here. 

Perhaps  it  was  natural  that  we  welcomed  most 
eagerly  of  all  the  presence  of  an  attractive  English 
book  shop  where  we  purchased  files  of  English  news- 
papers and  all  the  recent  pictorial  weeklies  and  maga- 
zines that  we  could  find.  Partly  for  this  reason  and 
partly  because  we  had  grown  tired  of  looking  at 
scenery,  the  four  hours'  railroad  journey  between 
Valparaiso  and  Santiago  passed  without  making 
much  impression  on  us  so  far  as  our  immediate  sur- 
roundings were  concerned,  and  almost  before  we 
knew  it,  we  had  entered  the  political  and  social  capi- 
tal of  Chile. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SANTIAGO  AND  THE  FIRST   PAN-AMERICAN 
SCIENTIFIC    CONGRESS 

FROM  the  railway  station  to  the  centre  of  San- 
tiago is  a  two- mile  ride  on  a  fine  parkway,  the 
Alameda  de  las  Deliciosas.  It  has  rows  of  trees, 
muddy  little  brooks,  and  a  shady  promenade.  Statues 
to  some  of  Chile's  more  famous  heroes  have  been 
placed  in  the  centre  of  the  promenade,  and  stone 
benches,  more  artistic  than  comfortable,  line  its 
sides  near  the  brook.  This  sounds  rather  romantic, 
but  the  waters  of  the  stream,  which  is  in  reality  a 
ditch  two  feet  wide,  are  so  dirty  that  it  suggests  an 
open  sewer  rather  than  a  mountain  brook. 

During  our  stay  some  one  became  disgusted  with 
either  the  brook  or  the  stone  benches  and  exploded 
a  bomb  under  one  of  the  latter.  It  happened  late  in 
the  night  and  nothing  was  hurt,  except  the  bench, 
which  was  quite  demolished.  Had  the  bomb  gone 
off  earlier  in  the  evening  there  would  have  been  a 
list  of  casualties,  for  all  the  world  walks  up  and  down 
here  in  the  cool  of  the  evening  admiring  the  view  of 
the  Andes.  The  strictly  fashionable  world  confines 
itself  more  often  to  the  pavements  of  the  principal 
plazas  where  it  may  be  found  about  nine  o'clock,  on 
evenings  when  the  band  is  playing,  walking  slowly 
round  and  round,  enjoying  a  glimpse  of  itself.   But 


SANTIAGO  I8i 

the  broad  Alameda,  as  wide  as  three  or  four  ordinary 
streets,  is  distinctly  the  more  popular  resort,  and  on 
festivals  like  Christmas  or  New  Year's,  it  is  thronged 
with  merry-makers. 

At  the  end  of  the  Alameda,  beyond  the  centre  of 
the  city,  is  the  romantic  rock  of  Santa  Lucia.  Santi- 
ago owes  its  situation  to  the  fact  that  this  precipit- 
ous hill  of  solid  rock  was  left  by  nature  in  the  centre 
of  a  rich,  fertile  plain.  The  rock  formed  a  natural 
fortress  and  was  fortified  by  the  Spaniards  when 
they  first  came  to  Chile.  After  having  been  the 
scene  of  numerous  bloody  battles  during  Chile's 
colonial  days,  Santa  Lucia  is  now  a  wonderfully  at- 
tractive park  with  fine  driveways,  well-made  paths 
that  command  splendid  panoramas  of  city,  plain, 
and  mountains,  and  a  theatre  and  restaurant  on  its 
summit.  The  view  is  remarkably  fine.  The  city 
spreads  itself  out  on  all  sides  although  the  principal 
plaza  and  the  business  district  lie  more  to  the  west. 
The  snow-capped  Andes,  the  most  characteristic 
feature  of  Santiago  scenery,  rise  majestically  to  the 
east.  Low  foot-hills  bound  the  western  horizon.  The 
fertile  plain,  which  is  none  other  than  the  great  cen- 
tral valley  of  Chile,  lies  to  the  north  and  south. 
Magnificent  vineyards  yielding  a  larger  crop  of  wine 
than  those  of  California  itself,  are  scattered  over  this 
valley.  Chile  repeatedly  reminds  one  of  California 
by  its  climate,  its  fruit,  its  mountain  scenery,  and  its 
arid  coast.  California  has  one  advantage,  its  width 
between  the  ocean  and  the  Sierras,  particularly  in 
the  fertile  region,  is  so  much  greater  than  that  of 
Chile. 


i82  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  hotels  of  Santiago  are  not  so  luxurious  and 
modern  as  those  of  Buenos  Aires,  yet  we  found  the 
"Annexo  B"  of  the  Oddo  to  be  perfectly  comfort- 
able. It  is  really  a  "bachelor  apartment  hotel." 
No  meals,  except  early  coffee,  were  served  there,  so 
we  took  advantage  of  the  generous  hospitality  of  the 
two  leading  clubs,  the  Club  Santiago  and  the  Union. 
Wearied  as  I  was  by  the  dismal  brown  desert  of 
southern  Bolivia,  the  gardens  and  fountains  in  the 
patio  of  the  Club  Santiago  seemed  like  Paradise  it- 
self. To  be  able  to  sit  at  small  tables,  served  by 
courteous  waiters,  and  enjoy  immaculate  linen  and 
the  best  of  food  and  drink,  was  sufficiently  novel  to 
be  charming,  but  only  half  as  welcome  as  the  restful 
green  of  the  trees  and  the  pleasant  splash  of  the 
fountains. 

We  soon  discovered  that  the  coolest  and  easiest 
way  to  see  Santiago  was  from  the  second  story  of  an 
electric  car,  especially  when  the  upper  tier  of  seats 
was  covered.  The  fare  on  the  roof  is  intended  for  the 
pocket-books  of  second-class  passengers  and  is  only 
five  centavos  (a  cent  and  a  quarter !)  which  makes  it 
cheaper  to  take  a  car  than  to  walk.  Unfortunately 
for  the  pleasures  of  life  in  Santiago,  fashion  frowns 
on  any  one  who  climbs  the  stairs  when  he  can  afford 
to  ride  below. 

Our  friends  would  not  even  allow  us  to  ride  below, 
however,  and  put  us  instead  into  a  kind  of  "hack" 
that  is  known  here  as  an  ^^  Americano.'' 

It  seems  that  several  generations  ago,  an  Ameri- 
can resident  introduced  a  carriage  which  he  thought 
peculiarly  adapted  to  Santiago.  It  might  be  described 


SANTIAGO  183 

as  a  two-seated  rockaway.  This  vehicle  soon  be- 
came a  vogue  and  is  now  the  established  style  for 
hackney  carriages.  There  are  victorias  for  hire  on 
the  principal  plazas,  but  their  rates  are  extortion- 
ately  high  while  those  of  the  ''Americanos''  are  ri- 
diculously low.  It  is  well  they  are,  for  otherwise  no 
one  would  patronize  them.  They  seem  to  be  with- 
out springs,  cleanliness,  or  any  ordinary  comforts. 
They  are  not  without  fleas  and  other  insects.  As  you 
go  bumping  and  rattling  over  the  cobblestones  of 
Santiago  in  one  of  these  antiquated  vehicles  you 
come  to  wonder  whether  the  Chilean's  proverbial 
dislike  of  Americans  has  not  been  intensified  by  the 
discomforts  he  has  suffered  in  the  '^ Americanos!'^ 

The  first  Pan-American  Scientific  Congress  was 
the  fruit  of  an  idea  started  some  years  ago  in  Buenos 
Aires  where  delegates  from  a  few  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can countries  met  for  the  first  Latin- American  Scien- 
tific Congress.  That  was  followed  by  a  second  which 
met  at  Montevideo,  and  a  third,  at  Rio,  each  show- 
ing an  increase  in  numbers  and  importance.  Plans 
for  the  fourth  Congress  were  left  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  a  Chilean  organization  committee  who  de- 
cided that  the  time  was  ripe  to  include  the  United 
States  in  the  list  of  invitations  and  make  the  Con- 
gress Pan-American  instead  of  Latin-American. 
The  visits  of  a  number  of  distinguished  North  Amer- 
icans, including  Secretary  Root  and  Professors  Moses, 
Rowe,  and  Shepherd,  had  done  much  to  pave  the 
way  for  friendly  feeling  between  the  scientific  men 
of  Chile  and  those  of  the  United  States,  and  the  pro- 
posal of  the  organization  committee  met  with  hearty 


i84  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

approval.  Owing  to  the  efforts  of  Secretary  Root 
and  Professor  Rowe,  the  United  States  Congress 
passed  an  appropriation  to  send  an  official  delega- 
tion to  the  Congress.  A  number  of  our  leading  uni- 
versities likewise  appointed  delegates. 

The  programme  suggested  for  the  Congress  was 
replete  with  all  manner  of  topics  for  discussion  and 
covered  almost  the  entire  field  of  knowledge,  from 
questions  of  sanitation  to  those  of  international  law, 
and  from  the  antiquity  of  primitive  man  in  America 
to  modern  methods  of  primary  instruction. 

As  was  to  be  expected  from  such  a  comprehensive 
programme,  the  intention  was  not  so  much  to  bring 
out  the  results  of  the  latest  research  as  to  furnish 
topics  that  would  be  sure  to  interest  the  delegates. 
Even  the  meetings  of  our  learned  societies  in  the 
States  are  largely  social.  To  many  of  those  who  at- 
tend the  chief  attraction  is  the  opportunity  of  meet- 
ing others  who  are  interested  in  the  same  lines,  and 
the  programme  is  merely  an  excuse  for  the  meeting. 
The  Pan-American  Scientific  Congress  was  not  far 
different.  It  offered  an  excellent  opportunity  for 
the  scientists  of  Latin-America  to  renew  old  ac- 
quaintance, and  it  gave  the  favored  delegates  from 
the  United  States  a  chance  to  make  new  friends 
among  men  whose  interests  are  chiefly  intellectual. 

Under  the  circumstances,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
few  of  the  papers  presented  new  facts  or  the  results 
of  prolonged  and  scholarly  research.  Nor  is  it  at  all 
remarkable  that  the  most  animated  discussions  took 
place  in  the  sessions  devoted  to  international  law 
and  politics,  education,  and  political  science.  These 


SANTIAGO  185 

are  topics  on  which  every  man  has  ideas  which  he 
is  not  afraid  to  express.  And  these  discussions  served 
as  a  means  of  introducing  men  that  might  not  other- 
wise have  met. 

PoHtics  were  kept  in  the  background,  as  far  as 
possible,  but  national  feelings  occasionally  found 
opportunity  for  expression. 

Chile  is  the  one  country  in  South  America  that 
has  never  had  and  cannot  have  a  boundary  dispute 
with  Brazil.  The  Portuguese-American  Republic  is 
not  likely  to  meddle  with  West  Coast  matters,  and 
Chile  has  nothing  to  gain  from  troubling  the  beauti- 
ful harbors  of  Rio  and  Bahia.  Indeed,  so  lacking  have 
been  any  causes  of  friction  between  the  two  Republics 
that  they  are  fond  of  emphasizing  the  entente  cordiale 
that  exists  between  them.  It  was  natural,  conse- 
quently, that  the  third  Latin-American  Scientific 
Congress,  meeting  in  Rio  under  Brazilian  organiza- 
tion, should  have  chosen  Santiago  as  the  seat  of  the 
fourth  congress,  and  it  was  a  return  of  the  courtesy 
when  the  organizing  committee  at  Santiago,  com- 
posed of  Chileans,  selected  the  local  Brazilian  Minis- 
ter as  President. 

The  Congress  opened  with  formal  ceremonies, 
fine  music,  and  much  oration.  In  answer  to  the  roll- 
call  of  republics,  the  leading  delegate  from  each 
country  responded  with  befittingly  felicitous  re- 
marks. 

It  is  true  that  the  learned  Brazilian  who  replied, 
when  the  name  of  his  country  was  called,  with  a 
speech  in  Portuguese  lasting  nearly  an  hour  in  length, 
stretched  the  friendly  feelings  toward  the  Brazil- 


I86  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ian  delegation  almost  to  the  breaking  point.  Few 
of  the  audience  could  understand  enough  of  what  he 
said  to  follow  his  wordy  address.  Almost  everyone 
thought  that  its  unnecessary  length,  added  to  the 
fact  of  its  being  the  only  address  of  the  evening  that 
was  not  in  Spanish,  the  official  language  of  the  Con- 
gress, was  at  least  a  breach  of  good  manners. 

The  state  of  mind  of  the  Chilean  audience  was  re- 
flected in  the  daily  papers  the  next  morning  when 
full  space  was  given  to  verbatim  reports  of  the 
speeches  made  by  the  representatives  of  all  the  other 
republics  and  not  even  a  synopsis  was  accorded  to 
the  speech  of  the  learned  Brazilian.  The  Brazilian 
delegation  took  umbrage  at  this  and  also  at  the  ova- 
tion that  was  given  the  Argentine  representative 
whose  speech  was  short,  crisp,  and  filled  with  ex- 
pressions of  friendship.  Like  the  Mexican  delegate, 
he  had  appreciated  the  fact  that  there  were  of  neces- 
sity seventeen  other  addresses,  and  that  five  min- 
utes devoted  to  cordial  greetings  was  better  than 
fifty  minutes  of  erudite  information.  A  month  after- 
wards when  the  Brazilian  delegation  was  on  its 
way  home,  I  read  in  the  newspaper  reports  from 
Buenos  Aires  that  the  Brazilians  felt  that  the  Chil- 
eans had  gone  out  of  their  way  to  make  friendly  over- 
tures to  Argentina,  Brazil's  natural  rival.  But  the 
only  things  of  which  they  had  any  cause  to  complain 
were  brought  about  by  their  own  unfortunate  mis- 
takes and  in  no  wise  indicated  any  desire  on  Chile's 
part  to  weaken  the  ties  of  her  long  friendship  with 
Brazil. 

Another  interesting  thing  in  the  formal  opening 


SANTIAGO  187 

meeting  was  that  although  the  Peruvian  delegate 
received  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  and  heartiest 
ovations  of  any,  he  took  it  in  stolid  silence,  making 
no  motion  and  giving  no  sign  that  he  heard  or  under- 
stood what  was  going  on.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
and  his  colleagues  felt  out  of  place.  Peruvians  hate 
and  dread  Chile  and  feel  grievously  wronged  by  her 
continued  occupation  of  Peru's  southernmost  pro- 
vinces, Tacna  and  Arica.  Consequently,  they  ac- 
cepted all  the  Chilean  overtures  with  very  bad  grace, 
feeling  that  it  would  have  been  much  more  desirable 
to  have  had  fewer  fine  words  and  more  kind  actions. 
It  was  apparent  that  the  Chileans  were  doing  every- 
thing in  their  power  to  try  and  patch  up  the  quarrel 
and  let  bygones  be  bygones,  but  the  Peruvians  felt 
that  the  demonstration  lacked  the  essential  quality 
of  sincerity  which,  of  course,  could  only  have  been 
given  by  a  sacrifice  of  the  provinces  of  Tacna  and 
Arica  which  Chile  had  no  intention  whatever  of 
making.  Throughout  the  meetings  the  Peruvian 
delegates  held  themselves  somewhat  aloof  and  took 
part  in  the  exercises  with  a  certain  dignity  which 
showed  how  little  they  enjoyed  being  the  recipi- 
ents of  Chilean  hospitality.  The  Chileans  were  un- 
doubtedly annoyed  at  the  cool  reception  of  their 
friendly  overtures.  It  is  entirely  possible  that  this 
contributed  not  a  little  to  Chilean  excitement  over 
the  incident  of  La  Corona,  of  which  I  shall  have  oc- 
casion to  speak  later  on. 

The  greater  part  of  the  time  of  the  Congress, 
counted  by  hours,  was  given  over  to  receptions  and 
teas,  breakfasts  and  dinners,  visits  to  vineyards, 


I88  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

public  works,  and  exhibitions,  military  tournaments, 
picnics,  and  balls. 

Hardly  had  we  got  settled  in  our  hotel  before  in- 
vitations began  to  pour  in,  and  we  soon  found  that 
the  hospitable  Chilenos  had  made  up  their  minds 
to  overwhelm  us  with  kindnesses  from  the  moment 
of  our  arrival  until  our  departure.  Never  did  a  city 
give  itself  over  more  heartily  and  more  gracefully 
to  entertaining  an  international  gathering.  For 
three  weeks,  hardly  a  day  passed  that  was  not  marked 
by  elaborate  entertainments.  Balls,  distinguished 
by  elegance  and  magnificence,  were  attended  by  the 
youth  and  beauty  of  the  most  aristocratic  society  in 
South  America,  clad  in  the  height  of  fashion  and  be- 
having just  as  society  does  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  The  Club  Santiago  was  repeatedly  the  scene 
of  banquets  whose  brilliance  would  have  rather 
startled  those  good  people  in  the  United  States  who 
think  of  South  America  as  being  something  like  an 
African  jungle. 

Most  of  the  outdoor  festivals  were  held  at  the  race- 
track where  a  fine  large  grandstand,  capable  of  seat- 
ing ten  thousand  people,  faces  a  beautiful  field  and 
the  magnificent  snow-capped  Andes.  Here,  on  a 
sunny  afternoon,  Santiago  society  met  in  a  battle  of 
flowers  for  the  benefit  of  charity.  The  participants, 
either  standing  on  the  terrace  in  front  of  the  grand- 
stand or  driving  by  in  handsomely  decorated  equi- 
pages, were  neither  noisy  nor  boisterous  and  yet 
entered  heartily  into  a  very  pretty  event. 

One  evening  was  devoted  to  the  volunteer  fire- 
men of  Santiago.   Following  a  parade  was  a  distri- 


I 


SANTIAGO  189 

bution  of  premiums  for  bravery  and  length  of  ser- 
vice. As  there  is  no  paid  fire  department,  the  city 
depends  on  these  volunteers  for  fire  protection,  and 
it  has  always  been  fashionable  to  belong  to  one  of  the 
best  companies. 

For  over  three  hundred  years  Santiago  has  been 
the  home  of  Spanish  families  of  distinction.  Their 
income  has  never  been  so  swollen  as  to  tempt  them 
to  extravagant  display  or  so  small  as  to  drive  them 
to  petty  pursuits  for  the  sake  of  gaining  a  livelihood. 

In  such  matters  as  magnificent  hotels,  expensive 
restaurants,  luxurious  clubs,  and  showy  automo- 
biles, Santiago  readily  yields  the  palm  to  Buenos 
Aires.  There  has  been  no  great  boom  in  Chile  at 
all  comparable  to  that  which  Argentina  has  seen. 
Furthermore,  earthquakes  and  fires  have  done  their 
worst  to  impoverish  a  nation  not  too  bountifully 
supplied  with  natural  resources.  To  be  sure,  the 
enormous  nitrate  deposits  of  northern  Chile  have 
made  the  government  able  to  distribute  millions  of 
dollars  among  its  followers  without  overtaxing  the 
population.  Money  has  come  in  so  easily  from  the 
export  duties  on  nitrate  that  no  Finance  Minister 
has  been  greatly  troubled  by  his  budget. 

Although  Santiago  cannot  boast  of  as  many  evi- 
dences of  wealth  as  Buenos  Aires,  she  has  other 
qualifications  which  give  her  the  right  to  hold  her 
head  higher  than  any  city  in  South  America.  The 
chief  of  these  is  her  literary  preeminence. 

She  has  produced  during  the  past  generation  more 
writers  of  ability  than  any  other  South  American 
city.   Easily  first  among  these  is  Jose  Toribio  Me- 


190  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

dina,  whose  untiring  industry  and  genius  for  biblio- 
graphy have  made  him  famous  all  over  the  world. 
Aided  by  a  devoted  wife,  he  has  produced  more 
scholarly  works  than  any  other  man  now  living  in 
South  America,  and  more  volumes  of  first-class  bib- 
liography than  any  in  the  western  hemisphere.  A 
born  collector,  he  spent  years  in  various  parts  of  the 
world  purchasing  rare  books  in  out-of-the-way 
places  and  making  notes  of  unpurchasable  volumes 
in  the  great  libraries,  until  he  had  built  up  a  magni- 
ficent collection  of  early  Americana  that  is  almost 
unparalleled. 

His  modest  house  is  replete  with  interest.  Three 
large  rooms  are  lined  from  floor  to  ceiling  with  his 
treasures.  One  room  is  devoted  almost  entirely  to 
early  Mexican  imprints.  To  see  gathered  together 
in  one  place  ten  thousand  pamphlets  printed  be- 
fore Mexico  secured  her  independence,  leads  one  to 
modify  somewhat  those  conceptions  of  Spanish  in- 
tolerance for  learning  which  we  have  inherited  from 
some  of  our  older  writers.  To  be  sure,  the  pamphlets 
are  mostly  of  a  religious  character.  However  much 
one  may  disagree  with  the  dogmas  they  contain  one 
cannot  but  admit  that  the  intention  of  their  pub- 
lishers was  to  raise  the  religious  and  moral  tone  of 
the  community.  In  the  back  part  of  Sr.  Medina's 
house  are  the  rooms  of  the  "Elzevir"  Press.  Here 
have  been  printed  those  sumptuous  bibliographical 
quartos  that  are  the  envy  of  every  librarian  and  the 
despair  of  the  average  scholar.  As  Sr.  Medina  was 
originally  a  printer,  it  is  his  recreation  to  assist  in 
putting  his  volumes  into  type.   It  is  not  often  in  the 


SANTIAGO  191 

modern  world  that  one  finds  the  whole  process  of 
making  a  book  existing  under  one  roof.  Here  are  the 
sources ;  here  lives  the  scholar  who  knows  them ;  here 
he  extracts  their  virtues;  and  from  this  same  place 
he  sends  forth  to  the  world  the  results  of  his  inves- 
tigations, printed  and  bound,  ready  for  the  use  of 
the  student. 

Besides  Sr.  Medina,  Santiago  has  produced  a 
number  of  historians,  men  like  Vicuna  Mackenna 
and  Diego  Barros  Arana  who  for  careful  statement 
and  concise  diction  have  not  been  surpassed  in 
South  America.  Even  the  late  Bartolome  Mitre  of 
Buenos  Aires,  one  of  Argentina's  greatest  states- 
men and  her  greatest  historian,  never  succeeded  in 
getting  away  from  the  Spanish  trick  of  efflorescence 
in  language  which  greatly  marred  his  work  from  the 
literary  point  of  view. 

Santiago's  literary  preeminence  is  further  shown 
both  by  the  fact  that  in  no  other  city  in  South 
America  are  there  so  many  people  who  are  fond  of 
books  and  reading  —  witness  the  large  number  of 
new  and  second-hand  book  stores — and  the  excellent 
list  of  works  that  are  published  here  every  year. 
While  Buenos  Aires,  with  a  population  three  times 
as  large,  can  boast  of  a  few  booksellers  whose  shops 
are  devoted  to  showy  imprints,  and  who  cater  to  the 
needs  of  those  who  buy  their  libraries  by  the  yard, 
there  is  little  evidence  in  Argentina  of  a  discriminat- 
ing group  of  booklovers  like  those  who  patronize 
the  score  of  old  book  stalls  in  one  of  Santiago's 
streets  near  the  university. 

On  the  outskirts  of  Santiago  is  an  excellent  man- 


192  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

ual  training  school  where  several  hundred  boys  are 
lodged,  fed,  and  taught  all  manner  of  trades,  from 
printing  to  forging,  and  carpentry  to  carving.  Par- 
ticular attention  is  paid  to  electricity,  and  a  large 
number  of  the  students  become  practical  electri- 
cians. At  the  exhibition  of  the  year's  work  we  were 
particularly  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  school 
is  able  to  sell  nearly  all  the  articles  made  by  the  stu- 
dents. Churns,  derricks,  chairs,  and  bells,  well  made 
and  cheap,  gave  evidence  that  the  school  was  run  on 
sound  business  principles. 

Not  far  off  is  the  Quinta  Normal,  a  fine  large  re- 
servation where  normal  and  agricultural  schools  rub 
shoulders  with  museums  of  fine  arts  and  natural 
history.  The  result  is  a  charming  place  for  study 
and  a  delightful  public  park. 

During  our  visit,  the  annual  fine  arts  exhibition 
was  in  progress  and  included  a  number  of  extremely 
meritorious  paintings  by  Sotomayor,  a  Spanish 
painter  who  has  recently  been  engaged  by  the  Chil- 
ean government  to  teach  in  the  Art  School.  Chile 
is  certainly  to  be  congratulated  on  the  class  of  teach- 
ers that  she  brings  from  abroad  for  her  schools,  and 
her  latest  acquisition  is  well  up  to  the  standard. 

Chile's  appreciation  of  art  and  her  policy  of  secur* 
ing  able  foreign  talent  to  teach  her  youth  are  greatly 
in  her  favor.  She  is  in  fact  a  young  and  vigorous 
nation.  Her  people  are  bred  in  a  splendid  climate^ 
well  suited  to  the  development  of  a  strong  race.  In 
fact  the  Araucanian  aborigines  were  superior  to  any- 
thing that  the  Spaniards  found  in  either  North  or 
South  America.  The  early  Spanish  immigrants  were 


SANTIAGO  193 

an  unusually  good  lot.  And  there  has  been  a  strik- 
ing admixture  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood  as  is  shown  by 
the  frequency  of  English  family  names  in  Santiago. 

As  is  well  known,  in  the  south  of  Chile  there  are 
many  Germans  and  it  is  commonly  cited  as  one  of 
the  danger  spots  of  German  expansion  in  South 
America.  Those  who  argue  so  fail  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  remarkably  strong  hold  that  Chile 
has  on  her  children.  In  no  other  part  of  South  Amer- 
ica do  foreigners  become  so  fond  of  the  soil  as  in  Chile. 
Even  those  of  English  ancestry  are  prouder  of  the 
history  of  Chile  than  they  are  of  that  of  England.  I 
have  heard  them  go  so  far  in  praise  of  their  adopted 
land  as  to  deride  England  and  predict  her  downfall. 
In  Buenos  Aires,  on  the  other  hand,  they  continu- 
ally revisit  the  homeland  and  pride  themselves  on 
their  close  connection  with  it.  There  one  sees  little 
of  that  devotion  to  the  country  of  their  adoption 
which  is  in  evidence  here. 

Among  the  spectacles  provided  for  the  benefit  of 
the  delegates,  the  most  interesting  was  a  military 
tournament  that  was  worth  going  a  long  way  to  see. 
The  Chilean  cavalryman  is  a  remarkably  daring 
horseman.  His  Spanish  and  Araucanian  ancestry 
have  given  him  qualities  that  appeal  to  the  eye  and 
to  one's  admiration  of  courage.  Perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  feat  of  the  afternoon  was  the  charge 
made  by  a  squadron  of  cavalry  over  a  burning  hur- 
dle. A  brush  fence,  well  soaked  in  kerosene,  was 
erected  in  front  of  the  grandstand  and  set  on  fire. 
Starting  to  windward,  the  squadron  charged,vaulted 
over  the  flames  and  dashed  away  in  the  smoke,  only 


'194  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

to  turn  in  the  face  of  a  strong  wind  which  blew  the 
smoke  and  flames  into  the  very  faces  of  the  horses, 
dash  back  again,  and  in  perfect  order  clear  the  fiery 
obstacle  with  as  much  ease  and  grace  as  though  it 
had  been  a  peaceful  country  fence.  As  an  exhibition 
of  training  it  was  extremely  significant. 

President  Montt/  who  was  extremely  kind  and 
courteous  to  us,  and  is  one  of  the  most  able  and  hon- 
est officials  that  South  America  has  ever  seen,  sent 
us  an  invitation  one  morning  to  attend  the  offi- 
cial inspection  of  the  Military  Academy.  All  the 
Chilean  officers  speak  German  and  most  of  them 
have  spent  from  tw-o  to  three  years  studying  in  Ger- 
many.  Like  the  army,  the  school  is  run  on  German 
models  and  is  extremely  well  kept  up.  The  neatness, 
discipline,  cleanliness,  and  excellent  sanitary  arrange- 
ments were  in  marked  contrast  to  most  public  build- 
ings in  South  America.   The  cadets  are  a  fine-looking 
lot  of  boys  who  are  largely  put  on  their  honor.   Few 
rules  are  made  for  their  guidance  but  when  any  one 
is  guilty  of  conduct  unbecoming  in  an  officer  and  a 
gentleman,  he  is  permanently  discharged  from  the 
academy.  The  instructors  lay  great  stress  on  map- 
making.   The  exhibition  of  maps  made  by  the  stu- 
dents was  remarkably  interesting.   The  students  are 
taught  not  only  to  make  outline  maps,  but  also  to 
construct  models  of  battlefields  and  even  to  draw 
sectional  panoramas  on  a  uniform  scale.   Three  ca- 
dets are  sent  out  to  survey  a  position  and  to  return 
in  half  an  hour,  each  with  a  drawing  which,  fitted  to 
that  of  his  mates,  will  make  a  panorama  that  will 

,,  *  His  sudden  death  in  August,  1910,  is  a  very  great  loss  to  Chile.   , 


SANTIAGO  195 

enable  the  commanding  officer  to  understand  the 
situation  and  direct  his  forces  intelligently.  This  is 
only  one  instance  of  the  thoroughness  with  which 
the  cadets  are  instructed.  It  Is  not  remarkable  that 
several  other  Latin-American  countries  have  sent 
for  Chilean  officers  to  teach  their  cadets,  and  have 
even  sent  their  own  boys  to  study  here. 

The  Congress  closed  on  the  evening  of  the  5th  of 
January,  1909,  with  a  grand  banquet  that  was  a 
blaze  of  glory.  Eloquent  speeches  of  mutual  con- 
gratulation were  delivered  by  the  representatives  of 
various  parts  of  the  two  continents.  Perhaps  the 
most  striking  thing  of  the  evening  was  the  contrast 
between  the  speeches  of  that  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can delegation  who  had  been  chosen  to  respond  to 
the  toast,  "The  United  States,"  and  the  one  that 
followed  it  delivered  by  a  brilliant  young  orator 
from  Uruguay.  As  might  have  been  expected,  the 
latter  was  fiery,  flowery,  and  ecstatic,  while  the  for- 
mer was  dignified  and  well  within  the  bounds  of  rea- 
son even  in  his  compliments.  The  unexpected  and 
very  striking  difference  was  that  the  American  spoke 
better  Spanish,  pure  Castllian,  melodious  and  grace- 
ful. The  Uruguayan  speech  was  in  the  offensive  dia- 
lect of  Montevideo,  harsh  to  the  ear,  resembling 
Portuguese  In  its  guttural  quality. 

The  only  other  speech  of  the  evening  that  equalled 
the  North  American's  in  beauty  of  diction  was  that 
of  General  Uribe  Uribe,  the  delegate  from  Colombia. 
He  ably  upheld  the  reputation  of  his  country  for 
speaking  the  best  Castllian  in  America.  So  far  as 
one  who  Is  not  a  native  may  be  permitted  the  priv- 


196  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ilege  of  judging  by  the  effect  on  the  ear,  the  inhab- 
itants of  Colombia  and  Peru  speak  the  best,  while 
the  people  of  the  countries  of  the  River  Plate  speak 
the  worst  and  most  impure  Spanish  of  any  on  the  con- 
tinent. The  impurity  is  a  natural  result  of  their  cen- 
tury-long dealings  with  the  Portuguese  in  Southern 
Brazil;  of  the  presence  in  their  midst  of  a  very  large 
number  of  Italians  whose  speech  is  so  like  the  Span- 
ish that  it  easily  corrupts  it;  and  also  of  the  fact  that 
during  the  colonial  epoch,  Buenos  Aires  was  not  a 
centre  of  Spanish  culture  like  Bogota  or  Lima.  On 
the  contrary,  as  is  well  known,  Buenos  Aires  was 
filled  with  a  fairly  rough  lot  of  traders  who  made 
their  fortune  by  smuggling  and  other  illegitimate 
transactions.  However  much  we  may  be  inclined  to 
justify  such  actions  on  their  part  by  the  injustice  of 
the  Spanish  trade  laws  governing  the  commerce  of 
the  Indies,  we  cannot  be  oblivious  to  the  fact  that 
the  kind  of  individual  who  would  be  vrilling  to  make 
his  living  by  smuggling  w^ould  probably  not  take 
pains  to  speak  his  native  tongue  with  either  elegance 
or  careful  attention  to  grammatical  rules.  In  Lima 
and  Bogota,  on  the  other  hand,  society  was  domin- 
ated by  the  official  class,  and  however  critically  w^e 
may  regard  these  proud  Spaniards  who  were  sent  by 
their  King  to  govern  America,  we  must  be  willing  to 
admit  that  they  were  likely  to  speak  the  beautiful 
language  of  Castile  as  perfectly  as  possible. 

So  much  has  been  said  of  the  inability  of  Ameri- 
cans to  learn  Spanish  properly  and  to  speak  it  grace- 
fully (it  is  a  common  proverb  in  South  America  that 
English  and  Americans  murder  the  soft  Castilian) 


SANTIAGO  197 

that  it  was  a  great  pleasure  to  hear  the  official  lan- 
guage of  the  Congress  spoken  better  by  a  North 
American  than  by  a  South  American.  Furthermore, 
it  was  characteristic  of  their  courtesy  that  the  Span- 
ish-American delegates  at  once  complimented  us  on 
such  an  achievement. 


CHAPTER  XV 

NORTHERN   CHILE 

TWO  days  after  the  closing  banquet,  we  rose  early 
and  hurried  down  to  the  station  to  take  the 
morning  express  for  Valparaiso.  Notv/ithstanding 
the  unseasonableness  of  the  hour  and  the  fatigue  of 
recent  entertainments,  a  large  number  of  the  hospit- 
able folk  of  Santiago  were  on  hand  to  bid  us  "God- 
speed" on  our  journey.  It  is  an  extremely  pleasant 
custom,  this  taking  the  trouble  to  welcome  the  com:- 
ing  and  speed  the  parting  guest  by  going  out  of  your 
way  to  greet  him  at  the  railway  station,  or  if  in  the 
country,  to  saddle  your  horse  and  ride  out  of  town 
for  a  mile  or  two  to  accompany  him.  It  takes  time,  to 
be  sure,  and  time  that,  according  to  American  stand- 
ards, might  be  more  profitably  expended  on  attend- 
ing to  the  business  of  adding  up  dollars  and  cents. 
Yet  it  does  increase  the  store  of  friendly  feelings  in 
the  world.  The  casual  visitor  to  the  United  States 
too  often  has  occasion  to  feel  that  we  are  so  wrapped 
up  in  money-making  that  we  have  no  time  to  be  po- 
lite. As  a  recent  British  visitor  said  in  comparing 
us  with  Mexico,  "when  one  crosses  the  Rio  Grande, 
the  brisk  and  selfish  American  atmosphere  is  left  be- 
hind." 

After  an  uneventful  journey  of  four  hours  in  a  par- 
lor car,  we  reached  the  water-front  of  Valparaiso. 


NORTHERN  CHILE  199 

Before  going  on  board  the  steamer  we  had  a  few- 
hours  to  give  to  sight-seeing  and  the  purchase  of  furs 
brought  here  from  the  Straits  of  Magellan  and  the 
Andean  highlands.  We  had  time  also  to  feel  some- 
thing of  the  excitement  caused  by  the  rapid  fluctua- 
tion in  the  value  of  the  paper  dollar  on  the  floor  of 
the  Valparaiso  Stock  Exchange. 

The  national  currency  fluctuates  considerably 
from  day  to  day  and  is  the  most  serious  drawback 
to  commercial  prosperity  in  Chile.  During  my  stay 
in  Santiago  it  fluctuated  so  violently  that  some  of 
the  prominent  business  men  were  very  evidently  less 
interested  in  their  legitimate  business  than  in  specu- 
lating in  currency.  The  unit  of  value  is  the  peso, 
worth,  while  we  were  there,  about  twenty-five  cents. 
It  has  gone  as  low  as  fifteen  cents,  and  as  high  as 
forty  cents.  All  current  accounts  in  the  large  im- 
porting houses  are  carried  in  pounds  sterling. 

British  commercial  houses  have  a  very  strong 
hold  on  Valparaiso.  So  important  are  the  dealings 
with  Great  Britain  that  English  is  actually  the  lan- 
guage of  commerce.  This  is  the  more  noticeable  be- 
cause, although  no  educated  South  American  would 
for  a  moment  admit  that  he  could  not  read  and  speak 
French,  outside  of  the  larger  cities  very  few  South 
Americans  can  even  understand  English.  Nor  do  I 
remember  to  have  met  more  than  one  or  two,  out- 
side of  Chile,  who  pretended  to  any  knowledge  of 
German.  A  knowledge  of  English  is  generally  lim- 
ited to  those  who  have  been  in  the  United  States  or 
England  and  to  those  who  have  had  large  business 
dealings  with  British  commercial  houses.  At  the 


200  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

same  time,  English  is  taught  in  many  of  the  schools 
in  Chile  and  we  repeatedly  met  young  Chileans  who 
were  anxious  to  practice  it  on  us. 

Great  Britain  has  always  favored  Chile  ever  since 
her  merchantmen,  headed  by  the  gallant  Admiral 
Thomas  Cochran,  Earl  of  Dundonald,  created  the 
Chilean  navy  which  swept  the  West  Coast  clean  of 
Spanish  ships  in  the  Wars  of  Independence.  It  was 
the  Chilean  navy  that  enabled  San  Martin's  troops 
to  reach  Peru  and  strike  at  the  last  stronghold  of 
Spain  in  South  America.  In  those  days,  most  of  the 
vessels  were  commanded  by  English  and  Scottish 
officers.  The  tendencies  of  the  navy  are  still  British, 
and  this  extends  even  to  the  uniform  of  both  officers 
and  cadets.  In  a  word,  the  navy  is  as  English  as  the 
army  is  German.  Furthermore,  it  has  long  main- 
tained its  preeminence  among  the  navies  of  South 
America.  When  Brazil  gets  the  dreadnoughts  for 
which  she  has  contracted,  this  supremacy  will  tem- 
porarily disappear. 

When  we  boarded  the  Chilean  steamer  Limari,  we 
found  among  our  fellow  passengers  quite  a  number 
of  pleasant-faced  little  naval  cadets  bound  for  some 
point  up  the  coast  where  they  were  to  join  their 
training-ship.  They  smoked  too  many  cigarettes, 
and  their  manners  on  board  were  not  particularly 
good,  although  they  were  probably  no  worse  than  a 
similar  group  of  American  schoolboys  would  have 
been  under  the  circumstances.  Certainly  our  fellow 
passengers  were  not  as  bad  as  those  cadets  whom 
Hugh  de  Bonelli  encountered  in  his  journey  from 
Panama  to  Lima  in  1850  and  describes  in  his  enter- 


NORTHERN   CHILE  201 

taining  "Travels  in  Bolivia."  In  one  corner  of  the 
saloon  on  his  steamer  "sat  an  elderly  gentleman  and 
a  maiden  lady,  brother  and  sister,  surrounded  by 
parrots,  a  monkey,  two  cats,  and  three  ugly  little 
dogs,  all  of  whom  they  alternately  kissed  and  hugged. 
Two  young  cadets  of  sixteen,  in  uniform,  who,  with- 
out a  figure  of  speech,  may  be  said  to  have  smoked 
themselves  away  —  for  they  were  scarcely  percept- 
ible behind  the  volumes  of  smoke  they  emitted,  — 
got  into  disgrace  with  these  worthy  people.  One  of 
these  young  sparks  threw  down,  on  the  sly,  a  lighted 
cigar  upon  the  monkey,  who  had  been  watching  him. 
The  animal  seized  it,  and  put  the  lighted  end  of  it 
into  his  mouth;  then  screamed,  chattered,  and  cried 
—  jumped  upon  the  head  of  the  old  lady,  who  was 
so  frightened  that  she  fainted  away ;  then  upon  that 
of  the  old  man,  from  which  he  fell  to  the  ground  with 
the  old  gentleman's  wig  firmly  held  between  his 
jaws!" 

We  found  the  Limari  well  crowded  with  passen- 
gers, most  of  them  Chileans  bound  for  Coquimbo, 
Antofagasta,  and  Iquique.  The  absence  of  a  railway 
makes  the  semi-weekly  steamers  the  only  means  of 
communication  on  this  desert  coast.  Yet  it  was  not 
until  we  had  experienced  the  decided  inconveniences 
of  overcrowding  and  felt  the  relief  caused  by  the 
heavy  disembarkation  at  the  northern  Chilean  ports 
that  we  fully  realized  how  dependent  the  Chileans 
are  on  the  control  of  sea-power.  They  are  now  plan- 
ning to  construct  a  longitudinal  railway  that  shall 
run  parallel  to  the  shore  line,  and  make  them  less 
dependent  on  naval  predominance. 


202         ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  next  day  after  leaving  Valparaiso,  we  reached 
Coquimbo.  The  cable  had  been  used  to  Vv'^arn  the 
authorities  that  there  were  distinguished  passengers 
on  board,  and  the  leading  citizens  of  the  town  came 
out  to  invite  the  delegados  ashore  and  took  us  for  a 
delightful  drive  along  the  beach  from  Coquimbo  to 
the  old  Spanish  settlement  of  La  Serena.  At  the  lat- 
ter place  we  were  entertained  at  the  Club  Vv^here  an 
informal  reception  was  held,  wath  the  aid  of  the  usual 
cocktails  and  champagne. 

At  Caldera  we  were  spared  from  official  recogni- 
tion and  spent  our  time  catching  lizards  on  the  sandy 
hills  back  of  the  town. 

The  third  day  brought  us  to  Antofagasta  where 
several  of  the  delegation  left  to  take  the  railroad  to 
Bolivia  over  the  route  by  which  I  had  come  out  a 
month  ago.  The  sea-lions  and  the  diving  birds  were 
playing  about  the  harbor  in  the  same  fascinating 
manner  as  when  I  first  saw  this  port.  But  the  effect, 
after  living  for  several  weeks  amid  the  green  parks 
of  Santiago  and  enjoying  several  days  of  blue  ocean, 
was  far  less  striking  than  when  we  came  from  the 
bleak  brown  deserts  of  the  Bolivian  plateau. 

The  morning  of  the  fourth  day  saw  us  at  Iqulque, 
once  the  centre  of  Peru's  nitrate  industr}^  now  ri- 
valing Valparaiso  as  the  scene  of  Chilean  commercial 
activity.  Numbers  of  sailing-vessels  were  lying  in 
the  roadstead  waiting  for  cargoes  of  the  precious  fer- 
tilizers. It  was  a  pleasure  to  see  several  of  the  vessels 
actually  flying  the  American  flag!  The  West  Coast 
depends  largely  on  Oregon  and  Puget  Sound  for  its 
lumber-supply  and   these  three-masted  American 


NORTHERN  CHILE  203 

schooners  find  a  profitable  trade  in  bringing  lumber 
and  returning  with  nitrates.  The  Limari's  cargo  con- 
sisted largely  of  merchandise  which  had  come  from 
Europe  and  America  through  the  Straits  of  Magel- 
lan. While  this  was  being  discharged  we  had  time  to 
see  the  city,  where  a  few  months  before  an  angry  mob 
of  strikers  from  the  nitrate  works,  had  been  mown 
down  by  well- trained  government  troops. 

We  were  entertained  here  by  Mr.  Rea  Hanna,  the 
enthusiastic  American  Consul,  who  has  a  difficult 
role  to  play  in  a  town  where  Chileans  are  in  control 
but  where  the  Peruvian  Club  is  the  centre  of  aristo- 
cratic society.  That  he  is  universally  liked  speaks 
volumes. 

At  the  southern  end  of  the  town  there  is  good 
bathing;  and  in  addition,  pavilions  and  beer  gar- 
dens to  entice  the  weary  clerk  from  the  nitrate  of- 
fices. The  well-arranged  grounds  of  the  Jockey  Club 
afford  opportunity  for  social  intercourse,  polo,  and 
tennis.  But  the  most  interesting  place  in  Iquique  is 
what  is  known  as  the  Combination,  the  central  of- 
fice of  the  Nitrate  Association,  where  the  different 
companies,  mostly  English,  unite  to  arrange  scales 
of  prices  and  quantity  of  output  and  maintain  an 
efficient  Bureau  of  Propaganda. 

People  frequently  confuse  Chilean  nitrates  with 
guano.  One  is  a  mineral,  the  other  an  animal  pro- 
duct. Whether  the  nitrate  fields  were  not  originally 
guano  deposits  is  a  moot  point,  but  I  believe  this 
idea  has  been  abandoned.  There  Is,  however,  con- 
siderable difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  actual  origin 
of  the  great  nitrate  desert. 


204  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

As  there  is  a  heavy  export  duty  on  the  nitrates, 
Chile  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  as  long  as 
the  supply  holds  out,  in  the  very  enviable  position 
of  making  foreigners  pay  the  bulk  of  her  taxes.  How 
long  this  exceptional  state  of  affairs  will  last  is  a 
problem  for  the  geologists  to  settle.  As  there  is  un- 
doubtedly enough  material  in  sight  to  satisfy  the  de- 
mands of  the  present  generation  and  the  next,  no 
one  has  any  very  stringent  reason  for  husbanding 
the  output  or  for  investing  the  national  income  from 
the  export  duties  in  such  a  way  as  to  provide  for  the 
exigencies  of  future  tax-payers.  The  natural  result 
of  this  easy  method  of  securing  a  revenue  is  a  ten- 
dency towards  extravagance  in  the  Chilean  budget 
and  an  absence  of  careful  supen^ision.  Few  people 
care  whether  the  money  is  spent  for  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  country.  Political  scientists  say  that 
when  the  voter  has  a  very  light  burden  of  taxes  to 
bear,  he  does  not  mind  seeing  the  government's 
money  wasted  or  his  favorite  politicians  grow 
wealthy.  Doubtless  in  time  such  a  condition  of  affairs 
will  have  a  serious  influence  for  evil  on  Chilean  char- 
acter. As  yet  the  whole  industry  is  too  young  to  have 
produced  any  marked  effect.  Fortunately  for  the 
race,  the  nitrate  fields  will  probably  become  ex- 
hausted before  any  lasting  harm  is  done.  Neverthe- 
less Chile  would  do  well  to  take  warning  from  the  ex- 
perience of  Peru,  whose  revenue  for  many  years 
depended  almost  exclusively  on  the  yield  of  guano 
from  the  Chincha  Islands.  The  exhaustion  of  that 
valuable  product  left  the  country  in  a  far  worse 
state  than  she  was  before  her  easily  acquired  income 


NORTHERN  CHILE  205 

had  commenced  to  corrupt  her  politicians  and 
financiers. 

We  left  Iquique  late  that  night  and  arrived  early 
the  next  morning  at  Pisagua,  the  northern  limit  of 
the  nitrate  country.  Like  all  the  other  ports  at 
which  we  had  touched  since  leaving  Valparaiso,  it  is 
the  terminus  of  a  little  railway  that  goes  back  a  few 
miles  into  the  interior  and  brings  down  minerals  of 
one  sort  or  another;  sometimes  copper  ore,  generally 
nitrate,  more  rarely  tin  and  silver. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  we  reached  Arica. 
The  southern  side  of  the  bay  is  guarded  by  a  pictur- 
esque cliff,  not  unlike  Gibraltar,  which  is  celebrated 
in  Peruvian  history  as  the  site  of  a  memorable  bat- 
tle in  the  war  with  Chile.  At  its  crisis  the  comman- 
dant of  the  Peruvian  garrison,  rather  than  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  victorious  Chileans,  spurred  his 
horse  over  the  summit  and  was  dashed  to  pieces 
among  the  rocks  and  waves  at  the  base  of  the  clifif. 
To  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind,  he  would  have  died  more 
creditably  had  he  killed  as  many  Chileans  as  possi- 
ble first,  and  fallen  face  to  the  front.  But  the  more 
spectacular  death  that  he  chose  appeals  strongly  to 
the  Latin  temperament. 

Yet  this  trick  of  committing  suicide  Instead  of 
fighting  to  the  last  breath  is  not  a  characteristic 
of  Spanish  heroes  generally.  It  is  not  easy  to  say 
whether  the  gallant  soldier  was  influenced  or  not  by 
any  Quichua  ancestor  that  he  may  have  had.  Readers 
of  Prescott's  "Conquest  of  Peru"  will  remember  that 
in  the  attack  on  Cuzco,  made  by  one  of  the  Pizarros, 
a  Quichua  noble  who  had  greatly  distinguished  him- 


206  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

self  in  the  Inca  army,  seeing  that  his  cause  was  irre- 
trievably lost,  jumped  over  the  precipice  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Sacsahuaman  hill,  and  preferred  to 
be  dashed  to  pieces  rather  than  to  see  how  many 
Spaniards  he  could  kill  first.  He  in  turn  may  have 
inherited  the  tendency  from  remote  ancestors  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  On  the  Island  of  Kusaie  there  is  a 
picturesque  waterfall  where,  according  to  tradition, 
two  young  chiefs,  defeated  in  battle,  ended  their 
lives  by  casting  themselves  from  the  precipice  into 
the  boiling  pool  below.  The  habit  of  jumping  over  a 
precipice  in  preference  to  being  killed  in  battle  by 
one's  enemies  is  not  uncommon  in  the  history  of 
the  Pacific  races,  both  in  the  Carolines  and  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands. 

Arica  is  particularly  interesting  to  Americans  be- 
cause it  was  here  that  the  U.  S.  S.  Wateree  was 
carried  inland  by  the  great  tidal  wave  of  1868.  Not 
only  has  the  port  been  devasted  by  earthquakes 
and  tidal  waves  but  also  by  fire.  At  present  it  has  a 
very  squalid  appearance.  Before  the  completion  in 
1 87 1  of  the  Southern  Peruvian  railway  from  Mol- 
lendo  to  Puno,  Arica  was  an  important  port  of  entry 
for  Bolivia.  When  the  Chileans  finish  the  railway 
which  they  are  building  to  connect  this  port  with  La 
Paz  by  a  line  that  shall  cross  the  mountains  back  of 
Tacna,  this  importance  will  be  restored. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  between  Chile  and  Peru 
the  Treaty  of  Peace  known  as  the  Treaty  of  Ancon 
stipulated  that  the  territory  of  the  provinces  of 
Tacna  and  Arica  should  remain  in  the  possession  of 
Chile  for  ten  years  from  1883  to  1893.   The  Treaty 


NORTHERN   CHILE  207 

continues:  "The  term  having  expired,  a  plebiscite 
shall  decide  by  popular  vote  if  the  territory  of  these 
provinces  shall  remain  definitely  under  the  dominion 
and  sovereignty  of  Chile,  or  if  they  shall  continue 
to  form  part  of  the  territory  of  Peru.  The  Govern- 
ment of  the  country  in  whose  favor  the  provinces 
of  Tacna  and  Arica  shall  be  annexed  shall  pay  to  the 
other  ten  millions  of  dollars  Chilean  silver  money  or 
Peruvian  soles,  of  equal  percentage  of  fine  silver  and 
of  equal  weight  as  the  former.  A  special  protocol, 
which  shall  be  considered  an  integral  part  of  the  pres- 
ent treaty,  shall  establish  the  form  in  which  the  ple- 
biscite shall  take  place,  and  the  terms  and  conditions 
in  which  the  ten  millions  of  dollars  shall  be  paid  by 
the  nation  remaining  in  possession  of  Tacna  and 
Arica." 

As  is  well  known,  the  special  protocol,  establish- 
ing the  form  in  which  the  plebiscite  is  to  take  place, 
has  never  been  agreed  upon.  The  principal  obstacle 
is  that  since  1883  3.  large  number  of  Chileans  have 
settled,  voluntarily  or  otherwise,  in  the  provinces, 
enough  to  decide  the  vote  of  the  plebiscite  in  favor 
of  Chile.  The  Chilean  government  says  all  present 
residents  should  vote.  The  Peruvians  maintain  that 
the  voters  in  the  plebiscite  should  consist  only  of 
those  who  were  residents  of  the  provinces  at  the  ter- 
mination of  the  war.  Naturally,  the  Chileans  will 
not  agree  to  this  as  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the 
majority  of  such  persons  are  of  inherent  Peruvian 
preferences. 

It  is  now  seventeen  years  since  the  plebiscite  was 
due  to  take  place  and  the  question  is  still  an  open 


208  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

one.  The  fact,  however,  that  in  a  recent  treaty  with 
Bolivia,  Chile  promised  to  construct,  at  her  expense, 
a  railway  from  Arica  to  La  Paz,  and  has  since  granted 
a  contract  to  a  reliable  company  to  build  that  rail- 
way, would  seem  to  indicate  that  Chile  considers 
the  question  settled  although  no  plebiscite  has  been 
held.  No  nation  voluntarily  commits  itself  to  spend 
millions  of  dollars  in  building  a  railway  in  a  province 
which  it  considers  in  the  slightest  degree  likely  to 
become  the  property  of  a  neighbor.  The  Peruvians 
have  not  overlooked  the  calm  way  in  which  the  Chil- 
eans take  it  for  granted  that  Tacna  and  Arica  are  to 
be  permanently  Chilean  territory,  but  they  are  in 
no  position  to  dispute  such  a  conclusion.  Their 
fighting  strength  is  far  below  the  Chilean  standard 
and  they  know  it. 

The  whole  question  was  brought  vividly  to  the 
fore  just  at  the  time  of  our  visit  by  a  little  interna- 
tional episode  known  as  the  '*  Incident  of  La  Corona." 
Peru  had  erected  a  magnificent  memorial  to  her  sol- 
diers that  fell  in  the  conflict  with  Chile.  As  was  cus- 
tomary and  proper,  the  representatives  of  the  va- 
rious foreign  powers  resident  in  Lima,  requested 
permission  to  deposit  formal  wreaths  at  the  base  of 
the  monument  as  an  expression  of  the  friendship  of 
their  governments.  The  Chilean  diplomat  was  not 
behind  the  others,  and  his  request  was  granted,  only 
to  be  denied  later  on  when  his  funeral  wreath  had 
been  made  ready  for  the  exercises.  At  this  he  took 
great  umbrage,  demanded  his  passports,  and  sailed 
for  home.  His  arrival  in  Santiago  was  the  occasion 
of  a  popular  outburst.  There  was  a  strong  demand 


NORTHERN  CHILE  209 

on  the  part  of  a  portion  of  the  public  that  the  govern- 
ment resent  the  Peruvian  "insult"  in  a  very  practi- 
cal way,  viz.,  by  holding  elections  in  the  provinces 
of  Tacna  and  Arica  and  summoning  representatives 
to  the  National  Congress  in  the  same  manner  as 
from  the  other  Chilean  provinces.  This  would  be 
taking  the  last  step  in  formal  annexation  of  the  dis- 
puted territory  and  final  recognition  of  it  as  a  defin- 
ite part  of  the  national  domain. 

I  was  travelling  in  the  interior  of  Peru  at  the  time 
of  these  demonstrations  and  it  may  be  imagined  that 
the  press  reports  in  the  Peruvian  newspapers  did  not 
underestimate  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  The  fact 
that  the  Chilean  government  did  not  take  any  active 
steps  toward  formally  annexing  Tacna  and  Arica  in 
response  to  the  popular  demand  was  attributed  by 
many  Peruvians  and  not  a  few  Chileans  to  the  fact 
that  in  the  harbor  of  Lima  there  happened  to  be  at 
this  time  a  powerful  squadron  of  American  battle- 
ships. The  long-standing  friendship  between  the 
United  States  and  Peru,  and  the  active  hostility  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Chile  at  the  time  of  the 
fall  of  Balmaceda  and  the  "Baltimore"  episode, 
were  regarded  by  the  Peruvians  as  sufficient  guar- 
anty of  an  intention  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
to  Interfere  In  case  trouble  arose  over  an  attempt  on 
the  part  of  Chile  to  terminate  the  territorial  dis- 
pute In  a  high-handed  manner. 

Whether  or  not  the  government  at  Washington 
indicated  Its  wishes  in  any  way  or  expressed  any 
opinion  whatever;  whether  or  not  the  presence  of 
our  battleship  fleet  In  the  waters  of  the  West  Coast 


210  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

at  this  time  was  intentional  or  purely  accidental,  are 
matters  about  which  I  know  nothing  and  which  do 
not  affect  the  actual  results.  As  it  stands,  the  Peru- 
vians having  avoided  trouble  with  Chile  feel  grate- 
ful toward  the  United  States,  and  the  Chileans  feel 
correspondingly  irritated  that  their  government  was 
apparently  kept  from  an  overt  act  by  the  influence 
of  the  Yankis.  An  enthusiastic  Chilean,  a  vigorous 
"  an ti- American,"  told  me  some  time  afterwards  that 
he  had  endeavored,  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  to  find 
out  from  political  friends  in  Valparaiso  why  nothing 
was  done  when  it  would  have  been  so  easy  to  settle 
the  whole  matter.  The  reply  in  every  case  was  ' '  fear 
of  offending  the  United  States." 

After  leaving  Arica  our  next  stop  was  to  be  at  IIo, 
the  southernmost  harbor  of  Peru,  a  fact  that  was 
emphasized  by  the  very  marked  depletion  of  our 
passenger  list.  Few  Chileans  care  to  go  to  Peru. 
Because  we  came  from  the  "polluted"  ports  of  a 
hated  rival,  the  Limari  was  subjected  to  a  thorough- 
going fumigation,  a  process  rendered  the  more  un- 
necessary and  offensive  because  nearly  all  of  the 
Peruvian  ports  actually  had  cases  of  bubonic  plague 
and  smallpox  while  the  Chilean  ports  were  free 
from  the  pest. 

We  reached  Mollendo  on  the  afternoon  of  January 
14th,  just  seven  days  after  leaving  Valparaiso. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

SOUTHERN   PERU 

MOLLENDO  Is  one  of  those  places  where  nature 
never  intended  man  to  live.  The  natural 
port,  and  the  one  that  was  used  for  centuries,  is  the 
bay  of  Islay,  a  few  miles  north.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
this  was  to  have  been  the  terminus  of  the  Southern 
Railway  of  Peru,  the  outlet  for  the  commerce  of  the 
Lake  Titicaca  region.  But  the  owners  of  real  estate 
at  Islay  were  so  convinced  that  there  had  arrived 
that  "  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men  which,  taken  at  the 
flood,  leads  on  to  fortune,"  that  they  attempted  to 
make  the  most  of  their  opportunity  and  asked  the 
railway  prohibitive  prices  for  land  and  water-front. 
The  result  was  that  Islay  missed  its  high  tide  and 
the  railway  engineers  carved  out  of  the  desert  coast 
what  is  now  the  port  of  Mollendo. 

It  claims  to  be  the  worst  harbor  on  the  West  Coast. 
In  fact,  the  author  of  a  recent  book  on  South 
America  was  so  impressed  with  the  terrors  of  disem- 
barking here  that  he  described  it  fully  In  three  sep- 
arate chapters  of  his  book!  Although  there  was 
quite  a  little  breeze  blowing  at  the  time  of  my  land- 
ing, I  confess  to  being  very  much  disappointed  at 
the  tameness  of  the  procedure.  The  reverend  author 
had  led  me  to  expect  "  a  surf-lashed  landing-place  — 
a  tremendous  tossing  and  bouncing  on  the  moun- 


212  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

tainous  swell."  Even  in  calm  weather  the  boat  was 
"tossed  about  like  a  cockle  shell,  now  thrown  up  to 
heaven  on  the  crest  of  a  wave,  now  dropped  down 
towards  the  nadir  in  its  hollow.  The  swarthy  Peru- 
vian oarsmen  strain  at  the  oars,  they  avoid  the 
jagged  rocks  between  the  boat  and  the  pier  by  a 
hair's  breadth!"  etc.  etc. 

One  gets  very  little  idea  from  such  language  of  a 
busy  little  basin  and  a  dock  where  half  a  dozen 
steam  cranes  are  at  work  loading  and  unloading 
large  freight  barges.  As  would  be  expected  from  the 
fact  that  this  is  the  chief  port  in  southern  Peru,  the 
docks  were  crowded  with  boxes  and  bales  of  every 
description.  Occasionally  as  many  as  eight  or  ten 
freighters  are  anchored  in  the  offing,  and  a  large 
number  of  lighters  are  kept  busy  most  of  the  time.  A 
new  breakwater  is  being  built  of  enormous  cubes  of 
concrete,  which  it  is  hoped  will  resist  the  action  of 
the  waves  better  than  the  natural  rock  of  the  neigh- 
borhood which  disintegrates  rapidly. 

A  climb  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet  up  the  face  of  a  steep 
cliff  back  of  the  landing  stage  brought  us  to  the  lit- 
tle platform  and  gate  of  the  local  custom  house. 
Our  arrival  here  was  not  expected  by  the  officials, 
and  we  received  the  customary  hard  looks  that  are 
given  every  one  coming  from  Chile.  Mollendo  has 
not  forgotten  the  war.  Nevertheless  it  needed  but 
the  mystic  word  delegado  to  the  collector  of  the  port 
to  cause  all  our  luggage  to  be  passed  graciously 
through  the  custom  house  without  even  the  formal- 
ity of  an  examination. 

Our  next  difficulty,  after  landing  on  Peruvian  soil, 


SOUTHERN   PERU  213 

was  in  finding  some  one  who  would  relieve  us  of  our 
Chilean  money  and  give  us  coin  of  the  realm  in  ex- 
change. At  first  the  local  bank  flatly  refused  to 
oblige  us,  saying  that  so  few  people  ever  went  from 
Peru  to  Chile  that  there  was  no  demand  for  Chilean 
money,  and  that  they  could  not  realize  anything  on 
our  Chilean  currency  without  sending  it  by  mail  to 
Valparaiso  or  Antofagasta,  an  expensive  and  risky 
undertaking  which  they  did  not  care  to  assume.  In 
a  word  it  was  "against  the  rules."  So  it  was  neces- 
sary to  say  ''delegado"  again.  As  was  to  be  expected, 
the  obliging  cashier  was  now  only  too  glad  to  relieve 
us  of  all  our  Chilean  money.  How  many  bank  cash- 
iers in  the  States,  after  laying  down  a  rule  of  the  bank 
to  a  foreigner,  would  be  willing  to  break  it  because 
the  stranger  was  able  to  prove  that  he  was  an  official 
delegate  to  a  Scientific  Congress?  I  fear  we  are  be- 
hind our  southern  neighbors  in  realizing  what  is  due 
to  "science"! 

The  only  thing  we  could  find  of  interest  in  Mol- 
lendo,  was  a  cock-fight  in  one  of  the  side  streets.  An 
audience  of  fifty  or  sixty  boatmen  and  their  friends, 
relieved  from  their  duties  at  the  end  of  the  day,  were 
hazarding  their  silver  soles  on  whichever  bird  they 
judged  would  last  the  longest  in  the  tiresome  and 
bloody  battle  that  was  being  fought  out  on  the  cob- 
ble-stones. The  excitement  grew  fast  and  furious 
as  the  fight  neared  its  close,  and  one  poor  bleeding 
rooster,  nearly  totally  blind,  and  almost  dying,  re- 
ceived a  few  final  pecks  from  his  victorious  oppo- 
nent, himself  dripping  with  blood.  I  have  occasion- 
ally watched  these  Spanish- American  cock-fights  in 


214  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

an  effort  to  understand  why  the  spectator  with  Span- 
ish blood  in  his  veins  gets  so  excited  over  them. 
Apart  from  a  reaUzation  that  at  present  cock-fight- 
ing is  the  national  sport  of  South  America,  and  as 
such,  takes  the  place  that  baseball  does  in  the  United 
States,  and  cricket  does  in  England,  I  must  admit 
that  I  have  failed  to  work  out  any  reason  to  account 
for  the  frenzied  interest. 

Probably  the  Peruvians  would  have  been  just  as 
bored  if  they  had  been  sandwiched  into  a  crowd  of 
"fans"  at  a  baseball  game. 

We  had  not  expected  to  stay  over  night  in  Mol- 
lendo,  which  has  the  usual  reputation  of  West  Coast 
ports  for  harboring  persons  afflicted  with  con- 
tagious diseases.  But  the  daily  train  for  Arequipa 
had  gone  and  there  would  not  be  another  until  the 
following  noon,  so  we  were  obliged  to  make  our- 
selves as  comfortable  as  possible  in  the  Hotel  Ferro 
Carril  which  was  not  at  all  bad.  The  worst  feature 
of  it  was  the  partitions,  which  were  extremely  thin. 
The  room  next  to  ours  was  occupied  by  an  English- 
speaking  individual  who  received  a  call  in  the  course 
of  the  evening  from  a  fellow  countryman,  resident 
here,  who  tried  to  frighten  him  out  of  his  senses  by 
vivid  details  as  to  the  number  of  cases  of  "yellow 
fever,  bubonic  plague,  and  smallpox"  now  raging  in 
the  town.  "More  deaths  occuring  every  day  than 
the  undertakers  could  possibly  attend  to ! "  "  Scarcely 
a  house  without  its  sick  folk!!"  "Not  a  family  still 
intact!!!"  etc.,  etc.  What  effect  these  remarks  may 
have  had  on  the  person  for  whom  they  were  intended, 
I  am  unable  to  say.   I  do  know  they  caused  no  little 


SOUTHERN   PERU  215 

uneasiness  among  those  delegados  who  had  landed 
here  on  their  way  to  the  interior.  We  did  not  stop 
to  make  personal  investigations  as  to  the  truth  of 
the  rumors  but  were  promptly  on  hand  the  next  day 
to  take  the  train  for  Arequipa. 

As  there  was  not  nearly  enough  space  for  all  the 
people  who  desired  to  leave  MoUendo  that  morning, 
we  were  very  much  crowded  for  the  first  hour  or  so. 
This  exodus  from  town  was  not  due  to  any  fear  of 
the  prevailing  pest,  but  rather  to  the  fact  that  Janu- 
ary is  the  season  for  leaving  town  and  enjoying  a 
short  stay  in  the  country.  The  train  followed  the 
coast  for  eight  miles  to  the  south  until  it  reached  the 
bay  and  beach  of  Mejia,  a  summer  resort  where 
many  of  the  families  of  Mollendo  have  built  little 
villas.  From  here  the  road  turns  inland,  east  and 
then  north,  climbing  slowly  and  affording  one  a  view 
of  the  pleasant  green  valley  of  the  Tambo  River  with 
its  little  country  houses  and  its  plantations  of  sugar- 
cane. Still  climbing,  the  train  continued  almost  due 
north  across  the  sandy  plain  known  as  the  Pampa 
de  Islay,  or  the  desert  of  Arequipa.  For  miles  on 
either  side  of  the  track  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
there  was  not  a  green  thing  to  be  seen.  Although 
there  was  no  animal  or  vegetable  life,  it  is  not  ex- 
actly correct  to  say  there  was  not  a  living  thing,  for 
this  is  the  home  of  the  medanos,  those  extraordinary 
crescent-shaped  sand-dunes  that  travel  across  the 
hard  ground  of  the  desert  floor,  driven  by  the  pre- 
vailing southwesterly  winds.  Each  hill  is  a  perfect 
crescent  exquisitely  drawn,  the  delicate  horns  taper- 
ing off  toward  the  north,  away  from  the  wind.  They 


2i6  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

cause  the  railroad  no  end  of  trouble,  for  when  a  me- 
dano  approaches  the  track,  it  must  get  across  some 
way  or  other.  It  is  of  no  use  to  shovel  back  the  horns 
of  the  crescent  as  they  encroach  on  the  rails,  for  the 
main  body  of  the  mound,  twenty  feet  high  and 
sixty  feet  or  more  wide,  will  advance  just  the  same 
and  must  be  helped  along. 

Although  we  had  started  from  Mollendo  Imme- 
diately after  lunch  and  the  journey  is  only  one  hun- 
dred miles  in  length,  it  took  us  seven  hours  to  ascend 
the  7500  feet,  and  it  was  dark  when  we  left  the  train 
at  Arequipa.  We  found  on  the  other  side  of  the  sta- 
tion a  long  line  of  mule-trams,  one  of  which  was  re- 
served for  intending  guests  of  the  Gran  Hotel  Ma- 
rone.  After  some  delay  incident  to  transferring  a 
train-load  of  passengers  and  their  hand  luggage  to 
this  caravan  of  tram-cars,  we  started  off  and  jingled 
our  way  through  poorly-lit  streets  of  one-story  houses 
where  attractively  carv^ed  stone  doorways,  dimly  vis- 
ible in  the  semi-darkness,  told  of  w^ell-built  mansions 
of  former  Spanish  grandees,  whose  walls  had  with- 
stood Arequipa's  earthquakes. 

To  a  person  who  has  experienced  a  great  earth- 
quake, the  mere  mention  of  the  word  is  terrifying, 
and  yet  we  were  told  by  one  of  the  astronomers  at 
the  local  Harvard  Obser\^atory  that  their  seismo- 
graph recorded  three  earthquakes  during  the  four 
days  of  our  stay  here.  In  fact,  scarcely  a  week  goes 
by  without  one  or  more  disturbances.  Fortunately 
for  us,  and  for  Arequipa,  these  daily  earthquakes 
that  are  ^o  faithfully  recorded  by  the  delicate  instru- 
ments of  the  observatory  are  not  usually  perceptible 


i^iMl 

h 

1 

THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  AREQUIPA  AND  MOUNT  CHACHANI 


CHAC  N 


I 


AN   OLD   DOUKWAV    IN    ARLyUlPA 


-    )   MISTI 


SOUTHERN   PERU  217 

to  human  beings.  However,  like  San  Francisco,  Val- 
paraiso, and  many  another  city  of  the  west  coast  of 
America,  Arequipa  does  have  a  serious  shake  once 
or  twice  in  a  century  and  people  do  not  build  two- 
story  houses  unless  they  can  afford  to  use  very  strong 
construction. 

We  were  most  agreeably  surprised  and  delighted 
with  our  accommodations  at  the  Hotel  Marone. 
None  of  us  had  expected  to  find  anything  nearly  so 
comfortable  outside  of  a  South  American  capital. 
With  this  excellent  hotel  and  with  the  promised  im- 
provement of  steamship  service  on  the  West  Coast, 
Arequipa  is  bound  to  become  a  Mecca  for  travellers. 
Charmingly  situated,  with  a  delightful  climate,  pic- 
turesque streets,  and  remarkable  churches  and  mon- 
asteries, it  offers  the  additional  inducement  of  being 
a  base  from  which  many  pleasant  excursions  can  be 
made.  Mountain  climbers  and  those  fond  of  moun- 
tain scenery  will  be  attracted  by  the  active  volcano 
El  Misti,  19,000  feet  high,  and  the  snow-capped  peaks 
of  Chachani  that  look  down  upon  the  city  from  their 
lofty  altitude  of  over  20,000  feet  above  the  sea.  Are- 
quipa is  the  distributing  centre  for  southern  Peru 
and  contains  a  number  of  banks  and  the  warehouses 
of  several  large  importing  houses.  To  the  explorer 
intending  to  penetrate  the  continent,  it  is  an  excel- 
lent place  in  which  to  purchase  part  of  his  outfit.  It 
was  the  base  of  the  DeMilhau-Peabody  Museum 
Expedition  to  the  Upper  Amazon.  I  was  astonished 
to  find  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  that  in  one  of  the  Eng- 
lish warehouses  it  was  not  only  possible  to  get  a  com- 
plete supply  of  excellent  canned  goods,  but  even 


2i8  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

such  luxuries  as  folding-cots  and  Caracas  chocolate. 
Professor  Bandelier,  that  most  distinguished  stu- 
dent of  Spanish- American  lands  and  peoples,  says  in 
his  recently  published  "Islands  of  Titicaca  and 
Koati"  that  Mt.  Koropuna,  lying  about  one  hun- 
dred miles  northwest  of  Arequipa,  is  probably  the 
highest  mountain  in  America.  Aconcagua  is  6940 
metres,  while,  according  to  Raimondi's  map  of  the 
Department  of  Arequipa,  Koropuna  is  6949  metres. 
Here  is  a  chance  for  a  well-equipped  exploring  ex- 
pedition. 

For  the  less  ambitious  tourist  there  are  shops 
where  one  may  buy  all  manner  of  foreign  and  do- 
mestic supplies,  and  excellent  photographs,  the  best 
of  which  I  regret  to  say  were  stolen  from  a  scientific 
expedition  many  years  ago  by  a  native  photo- 
grapher. The  lover  of  curious  costumes  and  quaint 
shops  will  be  abundantly  repaid  by  long  strolls 
through  the  Indian  quarters. 

As  soon  as  the  Prefect  of  Arequipa,  Sr.  Don  Lino 
Velarde,  heard  of  our  arrival,  he  made  haste  to  call 
and  place  himself  "entirely  at  our  disposal."  Some- 
times this  gracious  Spanish  extension  of  hospitality 
means  very  little,  but  In  this  case  it  was  genuine,  and 
the  Prefect  did  everything  in  his  power  to  make  our 
stay  both  pleasant  and  profitable.  Horses  and  a 
military  escort  were  provided  for  an  excursion  to  the 
Harvard  Observatory,  and  the  Prefect's  secretary 
was  detailed  to  act  as  our  cicerone  and  see  to  it  that 
we  were  shown  the  treasures  of  the  local  monasteries. 

We  found  the  old  Jesuit  church  the  most  interest- 
ing of  all  the  sights  that  the  city  afforded.   It  had 


SOUTHERN   PERU  219 

once  been  superbly  adorned  and  embellished  with 
elaborate  gilded  carvings  and  magnificent  altars. 
The  last  earthquake  had  overturned  and  destroyed 
three  of  the  altars,  but  the  four  remaining  are  well 
worth  a  visit,  and  there  are  many  beautiful  paintings 
still  on  the  walls.  The  west  front  of  the  church  is  a 
marvellous  example  of  stone-cutting  and  like  the 
towers  of  the  Jesuit  church  in  Potosi  shows  what 
excellent  manual  training  the  Jesuits  taught  their 
followers.  Their  expulsion  from  South  America  was 
one  of  the  most  serious  in  the  long  list  of  mistakes 
that  Spain  made  in  the  government  of  her  American 
colonies. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  Franciscan  monastery 
took  one  back  to  the  middle  ages.  Everything  was 
scrupulously  clean  and  in  good  order.  In  the  sa- 
cristy we  found  a  beautiful  Madonna  by  some  artist 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  monks  treasure  it 
highly  and  with  good  reason  for  the  face  is  as  beau- 
tiful as  any  I  have  ever  seen.  A  pleasant-faced,  com- 
municative monk,  who  seemed  glad  enough  to  be  per- 
mitted to  break  through  the  monotony  of  his  quiet 
life  in  the  cloisters,  took  us  to  his  favorite  spot  in 
the  gardens  where,  under  the  grapevines,  a  rude  seat 
had  been  made  from  a  great  millstone  that  dated 
back  to  Spanish  days.  From  here  he  led  us  to  differ- 
ent trees  in  the  orchard  and  begged  us  to  sample  the 
pears,  peaches,  and  plums  that  it  was  his  delight  to 
cultivate.  We  were  permitted  also  to  visit  the  li- 
brary and  found  it  well  stocked  with  rare  and  beau- 
tifully printed  old  books.  Naturally  most  of  them 
were  devoted  to  theology  and  religious  philosophy, 


220  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA' 

but  there  was  one  section  into  which  old-fashioned 
works  on  natural  history  had  crept,  including  a  fine 
set  of  Buffon.  On  the  door  of  the  library  was  posted 
a  notice  telling  the  monks  that  on  Mondays  and 
Thursdays  they  could  consult  books  on  piety ;  Tues- 
days and  Fridays,  works  on  theology;  Wednesdays 
and  Saturdays,  other  classes  of  religious  books,  etc., 
etc.  We  looked  in  vain  for  any  day  on  which  it  was 
permitted  to  use  the  books  on  natural  history.  Much 
has  been  written  of  the  degenerate  conditions  pre- 
vailing in  the  South  American  religious  houses.  The 
Franciscan  monasteries  we  visited  here  and  in  San- 
tiago, where  an  electric  dynamo  runs  a  modern  print- 
ing press  for  the  dissemination  of  religious  informa- 
tion, cannot  be  included  in  that  category. 

As  we  wandered  about  Arequipa  enjoying  the  pic- 
turesque Indian  shops  and  the  bright  colors  of  the 
native  costumes,  the  Indians  themselves  were  cour- 
teous and  polite  and  gave  little  evidence  of  any  justi- 
fication for  their  reputation  for  turbulence. 

The  only  evidence  which  we  witnessed  of  any 
eagerness  to  join  an  uprising  was  on  the  arrival  of 
Dr.  Durand,  a  notorious  revolutionist,  who  had  fled 
from  the  country  on  the  failure  of  a  revolution  which 
he  had  instigated  not  two  years  ago,  and  was  now 
being  allowed  to  return,  thanks  to  the  clemency  of 
the  Government.  He  had  taken  refuge  in  Bolivia 
and  in  going  to  his  home  at  Lima,  had  to  pass 
through  Arequipa.  We  happened  to  be  calling  on 
the  Prefect  when  the  chairman  of  the  local  com- 
mittee of  the  Liberal  party  came  to  request  the  priv- 
ilege of  giving  Dr.  Durand  a  popular  reception.  The 


SOUTHERN   PERU  221 

Prefect  had  evidently  received  orders  from  the  Gov- 
ernment to  allow  any  kind  of  a  demonstration  short 
of  rioting,  and  after  warning  the  Liberal  chairman 
that  there  must  be  no  disturbance  of  the  peace,  gave 
him  permission  to  carry  out  the  plans  for  the  recep- 
tion. We  were  somewhat  surprised  at  the  daring, 
one  might  almost  say  the  bravado,  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  extending  clemency  to  a  notorious  agitator 
who  had  done  his  best  to  upset  the  administration 
by  violence. 

Our  feelings  were  confirmed  the  next  day  on  the 
arrival  of  the  train  from  Puno.  The  exile  was  received 
by  a  mob  of  three  or  four  thousand  noisy  Liberals 
who,  inspired  by  the  sight  of  their  hero,  went  to  the 
limit  in  their  manifestations  of  joy.  It  goes  without 
saying  that  the  horses  were  taken  from  the  exile's 
carriage  and  that  he  was  dragged  through  the  streets 
in  triumph  by  his  loyal  supporters.  The  flat  roofs 
of  the  houses  were  crowded  with  interested  specta- 
tors who  did  not  care  to  ally  themselves  with  the 
Liberal  party  by  joining  the  procession  in  the  streets. 
A  few  of  the  bolder  Liberals,  encouraged  by  cognac 
or  chicha,  ventured  to  cry  "  Down  with  the  Govern- 
ment!" "Down  with  the  President!"  "Viva  Du- 
rand!''   "Long  live  the  Liberal  party!" 

It  may  seem  ungracious  to  criticise  the  policy  of  a 
country  where  one  has  received  as  much  hospitality 
and  kindness  as  I  have  in  Peru.  At  the  same  time 
I  cannot  help  expressing  the  conviction  that  if  Peru 
wishes  to  give  the  world  evidence  that  she  belongs 
to  the  same  category  of  nations  as  does  Mexico,  for 
instance,  where  capitalists  may  safely  invest  and  de- 


222  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

velop  the  resources  of  the  country;  if  she  seriously 
proposes  to  do  away  with  revolutions  and  make  them 
matters  of  ancient  history  rather  than  of  present 
politics,  she  cannot  afford  to  allow  the  instigators  of 
revolutions  to  enjoy  public  triumphs  such  as  are 
usually  accorded  to  the  true  heroes  of  a  nation. 

There  is  too  much  of  a  tendency  among  South 
Americans  to  regard  revolutions  as  a  popular  game. 
One  of  the  rules  is  that  after  the  conflict  is  over,  your 
enemies  must  be  treated  with  all  the  honors  of  war, 
and  that  it  will  not  do  to  be  too  severe  on  the  con- 
quered revolutionist  for  fear  that  he  may  take  re- 
venge on  you  when  the  next  revolution  succeeds.  If 
these  politico-military  agitators  were  put  to  death 
after  being  convicted  of  treason  by  a  properly  con- 
stituted tribunal,  Peru  would  enjoy  an  era  of  peace 
and  prosperity  such  as  she  scarcely  dreams  of  at  pre- 
sent —  and  the  Peruvians  are  good  dreamers.  But 
just  as  long  as  she  enthusiastically  welcomes  home, 
after  a  brief  exile,  men  like  Dr.  Durand,  she  offers 
an  extra  Inducement  to  any  hot-headed  young  fire- 
brand to  start  another  revolution.  If  he  succeeds, 
all  honor  and  glory  will  be  his,  besides  the  emolu- 
ments of  ofiEice  and  the  satisfaction  of  enjoying  po- 
litical power.  If  he  fails  and  makes  good  his  exit 
from  the  country,  it  can  mean  at  the  worst  but  a 
brief  exile  and  then  a  triumphal  return,  crowned  by 
an  ovation.  In  either  case,  unless  he  is  so  extremely 
unlucky  as  to  get  shot  in  the  scrimmage,  he  is  sure 
of  plenty  of  honor  and  glory  and  those  plaudits  so 
dear  to  the  Latin  heart.  Such  a  state  of  affairs  in- 
sures more  revolutions. 


SOUTHERN   PERU  223 

In  talking  the  matter  over  among  ourselves  the 
evening  after  we  had  witnessed  this  extraordinary 
reception  to  a  man  whom  we  could  not  help  regard- 
ing as  an  enemy  of  his  country,  we  ventured  to  pre- 
dict that  before  the  end  of  the  year  Peru  would  see 
another  revolution.  It  was  an  easy  prophecy  and  we 
were  not  surprised  at  its  speedy  fulfillment.  In  fact, 
in  less  than  six  months  a  revolution  broke  out  in 
Lima  that  for  a  time  seemed  as  though  it  would  suc- 
ceed in  overthrowing  the  Government  whose  mis- 
taken clemency  we  had  witnessed.  The  President 
and  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  were  captured 
and  dragged  through  the  streets,  and  narrowly  es- 
caped death  in  the  resulting  collision  between  the 
revolutionists  and  the  government  troops.  For- 
tunately, like  so  many  of  its  predecessors,  the  revo- 
lution was  a  failure.  But  coming  as  it  did  just  at  a 
time  when  the  city  of  Lima  was  endeavoring  to  sell 
its  bonds  on  the  New  York  market,  it  acted  as  a  very 
effective  warning  to  capitalists  who  were  attracted 
by  an  eight  per  cent  municipal  bond. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

LA   PAZ,   THE  DE  FACTO  CAPITAL  OF   BOLIVIA 

IT  is  a  twelve  hours'  run  from  Arequlpa  to  the 
wharf  at  Puno  where  one  takes  the  steamer 
across  Lake  Titicaca.  The  distance  is  only  two  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  miles,  but  there  are  fifteen  or 
twenty  stops,  and  there  is  no  hurry. 

Our  train  was  mixed  passenger  and  freight  and 
one  first-class  coach  was  amply  sufficient  to  accom- 
modate everybody. 

Shortly  after  ten  o'clock,  we  stopped  for  break- 
fast at  a  primitive  little  railway  inn,  where,  although 
we  had  good  appetites  and  were  accustomed  to  na- 
tive fare,  the  food  seemed  exceptionally  bad,  and 
some  of  it  was  quite  inedible.  Whether  it  was  the  re- 
sult of  this  or  not,  several  of  the  passengers  soon  be- 
gan to  show  signs  of  mountain  sickness.  Arequipa 
is  7500  feet  above  the  sea,  but  Crucero  Alto,  a  water 
tank  station,  which  we  reached  about  half  past  two, 
is  14,666  feet,  so  there  was  good  excuse  for  any  one 
who  is  at  all  affected  by  rarefied  atmosphere. 

The  eastern  edge  of  the  plateau  brought  us  to  the 
two  mountain  lakes  of  Saracocha  and  Cachipascana. 
Although  there  was  no  green  in  the  landscape,  the 
snow-capped  mountains  that  surround  the  lakes  lent 
an  atmosphere  of  romance  and  charm  to  the  other- 
wise desolate  view.   Continuing  eastw^ard,  the  train 


LA   PAZ  225 

went  rapidly  down  grade  for  two  thousand  feet, 
stopping  occasionally  at  little  Indian  villages  until 
it  reached  the  important  railway  junction  of  Juliaca. 
Here  the  passengers  for  Cuzco  left  us,  and  in  the  dusk 
we  turned  south  and  hurried  over  the  remaining 
thirty  miles  of  level  road.  On  reaching  the  wharf  at 
Puno,  we  found  to  our  dismay  that  the  steamer 
scheduled  to  cross  Titicaca  this  evening  was  the 
Yavari,  the  smallest  and  oldest  on  the  lake,  and  the 
first  steam  vessel  to  be  propelled  at  an  altitude  of 
12,500  feet  above  sea-level.  She  had  already  re- 
ceived her  full  complement  of  freight,  and  her  deck 
was  covered  with  railway-ties  brought  from  Oregon 
for  the  new  Bolivia  Railway  System.  It  took  but  a 
few  moments  to  get  passengers  and  their  luggage 
transferred  from  the  train  to  the  steamer,  and  be- 
fore we  realized  it,  we  were  plowing  through  the 
troubled  waters  of  the  highest  large  body  of  water 
in  the  world.  The  sky  was  beautifully  clear  and  the 
stars  shone  with  wonderful  brightness,  attracting 
us  to  spend  the  evening  on  deck,  to  the  amazement 
of  the  natives  who  preferred  to  sit  in  the  stuffy  little 
dining  saloon.  It  did  not  take  us  long  to  agree  with 
them  that  it  was  too  cold  and  damp  to  make  the 
starlight  very  enjoyable. 

Our  slumbers  were  disturbed  by  a  terrific  thun- 
der-storm that  made  the  little  Yavari  toss  about  like 
a  cork.  The  rain  descended  in  torrents  and  obliged 
us  to  close  our  porthole.  Of  course,  it  was  not  the 
first  squall  nor  the  worst  that  the  stout  little  vessel 
had  weathered,  but  out  of  consideration  for  her  age, 
we  had  unpleasant  dreams  of  swimming  in  the  water 


226  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

of  a  lake  which  Is  so  cold  that  none  of  the  Indians 
who  live  on  its  banks  and  navigate  their  crazy  balsas 
over  its  surface  have  ever  learned  how  to  swim. 

We  were  up  at  daylight  just  in  time  to  see  the 
islands  of  Titicaca  and  Koati  and  the  promontory 
of  Copacavana,  the  old  centre  of  civilization  on  the 
plateau.  It  is  still  the  scene  of  many  quaint  Indian 
festivals.  The  ancient  terraces  are  still  used  in  slow 
rotation  for  raising  crops.  We  passed  quite  close  to 
the  peninsula  of  Taraco  which  abuts  from  the  eastern 
shore  and  is  thickly  populated.  In  fact,  so  far  as  we 
could  see,  all  the  valuable  lands  on  the  shores  of  the 
lake  were  cultivated  to  the  limit. 

Mr.  Bandelier  says  there  are  probably  more  In- 
dians here  now  than  there  were  in  the  days  before 
the  Conquest,  all  the  sentimentalists  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

The  atmosphere  was  wonderfully  clear,  and  with 
the  aid  of  glasses,  we  could  see  people  miles  away 
going  in  and  out  of  picturesque  little  churches,  driv- 
ing their  cattle  to  pasture,  tending  crops,  and  work- 
ing on  the  primitive  threshing-floors  where  donkeys 
and  oxen  were  treading  out  the  barley.  Occasionally 
the  effect  was  heightened  by  a  mirage  that  raised 
the  shores  up  from  the  lake  and  enabled  us  to  see 
new  towns  and  villages.  Far  in  the  distance  snow'- 
covered  mountains  added  to  the  charm  of  the  scene. 

On  the  marshy  shores  the  fisherfolk  began  to  em- 
bark in  their  balsas,  those  curious  canoes,  made  of 
bundles  of  reeds  tied  together,  quite  comfortable 
when  new  but  most  disagreeable  when  water-logged. 
At  one  time  we  were  able  to  count  forty  of  them  dot- 


LA  PAZ  227 

ting  the  waters  of  the  lake.  Not  less  interesting  was 
a  species  of  wild  duck  or  diver  that  amused  us  by 
swimming  directly  in  the  path  of  the  steamer,  then 
becoming  suddenly  frightened,  and  with  the  aid  of 
its  wings,  running  over  the  surface  of  the  water  with 
incredible  swiftness. 

Numerous  as  have  been  the  travellers  that  have 
crossed  the  lake,  and  easy  as  it  is  of  access,  still  Mr. 
Bandelier  is  able  to  write:  "Lake  Titicaca  in  most 
of  its  features  is  as  unknown  as  the  least  visited  of 
the  inner  African  lakes.  The  shores  are  so  indented 
and  their  topography  is  so  complicated,  that  a  coast- 
ing voyage  of  a  year  at  least  would  be  needed  to 
achieve  a  complete  investigation." 

There  is  only  a  narrow  channel  between  the  pen- 
insula of  Copacavana  on  the  west  and  that  of  San 
Pedro  on  the  east  so  that  after  one  passes  through 
the  narrow  straits  of  Tiquina,  one  loses  sight  of  the 
great  expanse  of  Titicaca  and  is  in  reality  in  a  small 
lake  at  its  southern  end.  It  took  us  several  hours 
to  cross  this,  however,  and  it  was  noon  before  we 
entered  the  little  artificial  harbor  of  Guaqui.  The 
only  lake  traffic  that  pays  is  freight  and  the  boats 
run  frequently,  but  irregularly,  starting  as  soon  as 
their  loading  of  cargo  is  completed.  One  reads  in 
the  guide-books  that  they  have  a  regular  schedule. 
The  natives  say  that  you  can  never  tell  when  the 
steamers  will  sail.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  usually 
possible  to  find  out  a  day  or  two  ahead  from  the  rail- 
road officials  the  hour  and  date  of  sailing. 

Soon  after  our  arrival  the  daily  train  started. 
The  first  stop  was  at  the  famous  town  of  Tiahua- 


228  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA' 

naco.  We  could  see  enough  of  the  wonderful  ruins 
from  the  train  to  arouse  the  greatest  curiosity,  which 
a  few  boys  increased  by  trying  to  sell  us  trinkets 
which  had  possibly  been  dug  up  in  the  vicinity. 

Beyond  Tiahuanaco  the  country,  part  of  the  great 
tableland  of  Bolivia,  is  covered  with  loose  stone  and 
an  occasional  low  shrub.  Not  a  single  tree  breaks 
the  monotony.  Trees  are  rarely  seen  anywhere  on 
this  plateau.  A  three  hours'  run  over  the  level 
plains  brought  us  to  Alto  de  La  Paz. 

My  impressions  of  the  approach  to  La  Paz  were 
so  much  like  those  of  our  old  friend  Edmund  Tem- 
ple who  came  here  from  Potosi  in  1828,  that  I  shall 
quote  in  full  his  quaint  and  vivid  description.  "After 
travelling  twelve,  thirteen,  and,  as  I  imagined,  every 
mile  of  the  distance  from  Ventilla  to  La  Paz,  my  as- 
tonishment was  excited  by  not  perceiving  on  so  level 
a  plain  any  object  indicating  the  existence  of  a  town. 
Sundry  groups  of  Indians,  droves  of  mules,  llamas, 
and  asses,  some  unladen,  some  with  burdens,  were 
indeed  to  be  seen  passing  and  repassing,  as  in  the 
bustle  of  business,  but  no  buildings  or  habitation 
whatever;  no  turret,  dome,  or  steeple  of  church  or 
convent  appeared  in  view,  although  the  tolling  of 
their  bells  occasionally  struck  faintly  on  the  ear.  Huge, 
barren,  weather-beaten  rocks,  and  snow-covered 
mountains,  apparently  close  at  hand,  rose  directly 
before  me,  and  presented  an  impassable  barrier. 

"  I  could  not  perceive  where  I  was  to  find  a  town; 
and,  as  I  rode  onwards  In  strange  perplexity,  endeav- 
oring to  solve  the  enigma,  I  arrived  suddenly  at  the 
verge  of  an  abrupt  and  prodigious  precipice,  at  the 


MONOLITHIC    IMAGE   AT  TIAHUANACO 


LA  PAZ  229 

bottom  of  which  I  beheld,  in  diminutive  perspective, 
the  large  and  populous  city  of  La  Paz.  .  .  .  Through 
this  fairy  town  may  be  faintly  seen,  winding  with 
occasional  interruptions,  a  silver  thread  marked 
with  specks  of  frothy  white,  which,  upon  approach- 
ing, proves  to  be  a  mountain-torrent,  leaping  from 
rock  to  rock,  and  sweeping  through  the  valley.  In 
casting  a  glance  farther  round,  you  perceive  squares 
and  patches  of  every  shade  of  green  and  yellow, 
which,  to  a  European,  is  perhaps  the  most  striking 
part  of  the  interesting  scene.  Corn,  and  fruit,  and 
vegetables,  and  crops  of  every  kind,  may  be  seen  in 
all  their  stages,  from  the  act  of  sowing  to  that  of 
gathering  them  in ;  here,  a  field  of  barley  luxuriantly 
green;  there,  another  in  full  maturity,  which  the  In- 
dians are  busily  reaping;  next  to  it,  a  crop  just  ap- 
pearing above  the  ground.  Farther  on,  another  ar- 
rived at  half  its  growth ;  beyond  it,  a  man  guiding  a 
pair  of  oxen  yoked  to  a  shapeless  stick,  the  point  of 
which  scratches  the  earth  sufficiently  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  seed  which  another  man  is  scattering  in 
the  furrows;  trees  bearing  fruit  and  at  the  same  time 
putting  forth  buds  and  blossoms  complete  the  scene 
of  luxuriance.  .  .  .  Yet  it  requires  only  to  raise  the 
eyes  from  the  lap  of  this  fruitful  Eden  to  behold  the 
widest  contrast  in  the  realms  of  Nature.  Naked 
and  arid  rocks  rise  in  mural  precipices  around ;  high 
above  these,  mountains  beaten  by  furious  tempests, 
frown  in  all  the  bleakness  of  sterility;  higher  still, 
the  tops  of  others,  reposing  in  the  region  of  eternal 
snow,  glisten  uninfluenced  in  the  presence  of  a  trop- 
ical sun. 


230  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

**I  stopped  for  some  minutes  on  the  verge  of  the 
precipice  to  look  upon  a  scene  so  wonderfully  strange ; 
indeed,  my  horse,  of  his  own  accord,  made  the  first 
pause,  and  with  outstretched  neck,  ears  advanced, 
and  frequent  snorting,  showed  that  he  was  not  un- 
aware of  the  abyss  beneath,  and  seemed  to  inquire 
how  it  was  to  be  descended,  for  the  road,  in  a  sud- 
den turn,  winding  round  the  face  of  the  precipice,  is 
at  first  completely  concealed  from  view;  and,  al- 
though it  appeared  as  if  I  could  have  '  thrown  a  bis- 
cuit' into  the  town  from  the  heights  where  I  first  dis- 
covered it,  a  short  league  is  the  calculated  distance, 
and  full  three  quarters  of  an  hour  were  occupied  in 
descending,  before  I  entered  the  suburbs.  Here, 
again,  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  town,  which, 
from  the  height  I  had  just  left,  appeared  to  be  on  a 
flat,  was  in  reality  built  upon  hills,  and  that  some  of 
the  streets  were  extremely  steep,  which  circum- 
stance alone  must  convey  a  tolerable  idea  of  the 
depth  of  the  valley  in  which  the  city  of  La  Paz  is 
situated." 

The  only  change  since  the  days  of  Temple,  whose 
graphic  pencil  has  so  ably  described  the  scene,  is 
that  a  well-built  electric  railroad  winds  down  the 
face  of  the  western  cliff  into  the  town.  At  the  time 
of  his  visit  he  was  obliged  to  go  from  tamho  to  tambo 
in  search  of  a  lodging  but  found  them  all  so  full  that 
there  was  no  place  for  him.  It  gave  him  the  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  to  test  those  often  proffered  ser- 
vices and  complimentary  generosities  of  the  South 
American.  Addressing  the  first  decent-looking 
person  he  passed,  he  made  inquiry  who  was  the 


LA  PAZ  231 

owner  of  a  large  and  respectable  mansion  near  by. 
On  learning  that  it  belonged  to  a  worthy  and  excel- 
lent man,  he  determined  to  present  himself  and  ask 
for  lodgings.  At  first  he  was  rather  brusquely 
received  by  the  lady  of  the  house, who  "stood  for 
some  time  like  a  pillar  of  salt  to  my  politely-studied 
address";  but  he  explained  his  predicament  and 
was  soon  given  a  kind  and  affable  reception. 

Fortunately,  we  were  not  obliged  to  experiment 
upon  the  proverbial  Bolivian  hospitality,  but  were 
met  at  the  station  by  kind  friends,  representatives 
of  W.  R.  Grace  &  Co., who  did  everything  in  their 
power  to  add  to  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  I  had 
owed  their  house  ever  since  I  started  on  my  jour- 
ney. Comfortable  quarters  were  found  for  us  in  the 
Sucursal,  a  huge,  modern,  three-story  building  in- 
tended for  a  convent,  but  now  used  as  the  annex 
of  the  leading  hotel.  It  was  not  long  before  we  were 
exploring  the  streets  and  enjoying  the  sights  of  the 
most  picturesque  Indian  city  in  Spanish-America. 

There  are,  to  be  sure,  the  usual  earmarks  of 
a  Latin-American  capital:  well-stocked  warehouses 
owned  by  English,  German,  and  American  firms; 
native  politicians,  unmistakable,  in  frock  coats  and 
silk  hats,  who  spend  their  time  chatting  around  the 
benches  of  the  principal  plaza  near  the  Government 
House;  a  telephone  company  with  four  hundred 
subscribers;  fine  residences  on  a  shady  alameda, 
owned  and  occupied  by  people  of  European  descent; 
etc.,  etc.  Nevertheless  the  general  impression  that 
one  gets  of  La  Paz  is  that  it  is  an  Indian  city,  quite 
distinct  from  any  city  seen  anywhere  else.    Its  In- 


232  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

dians  are  not  like  the  Quichuas  of  Cuzco  and 
Potosi,  or  the  Chibchas  of  Bogota.  They  are 
Aymar^s. 

It  is  said  that  La  Paz,  with  a  population  of  sixty 
thousand  people,  has  thirty  thousand  Aymar^s  who 
neither  speak  nor  understand  a  word  of  Spanish. 
Judging  by  my  experiences  in  the  streets  and  in  the 
market-place,  the  proportion  of  people  who  do  not 
understand  Spanish  is  considerably  larger.  I  found 
very  few,  even  of  those  who  were  most  anxious  to 
sell  their  goods,  who  could  so  much  as  count  in 
Spanish. 

The  result  of  having  such  a  large  part  of  the 
population  untouched  by  Spanish  language  or  cus- 
tom is  to  make  the  streets  much  more  picturesque. 
The  brilliant  colors  completely  threw  into  the  shade 
my  impression  of  Potosi.  Never  have  I  seen  such 
gay  ponchos  and  such  kaleidoscopic  effects  as  in 
the  La  Paz  market-place  and  the  streets  and  squares 
near  it. 

The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  In  no  other  city  of 
the  Andes  are  the  aborigines  so  powerful  as  here. 
La  Paz  owes  its  political  supremacy,  and  its  present 
possession  of  the  President  and  Congress,  to  the 
fighting  qualities  of  the  Aymaras.  They  are  a  bar- 
barous folk  whose  cupidity,  low  cunning,  and  savage 
cruelty  is  quite  unlike  their  mild  cousins  the 
Quichuas.  Pampered  and  befriended  by  the  Govern- 
ment, made  to  feel  their  power  and  importance,  they 
stalk  unabashed  through  the  streets  of  the  city  and 
take  pleasure  in  carrying  their  savage  tastes  to  an 
extreme.   The  natural  result  is  to  give  the  city  an 


THE    MARKEi 


A   REMARKABLE   S 


A(    OF    LA   PAZ 


LW  -   AT   TIAHUANACO 


LA  PAZ  233 

atmosphere  of  barbaric  glitter  which  is  lacking 
elsewhere.  In  cities  like  Bogota,  Cuzco,  and  Potosi, 
although  the  Indians  far  outnumber  the  whites, 
the  latter  are  so  absolutely  dominant,  and  the  In- 
dians so  peaceable  and  humble,  that  there  is  an 
opportunity  for  ridicule  to  mitigate  against  the 
more  picturesque  features  of  Indian  costume.  But 
in  La  Paz  few  of  the  Spanish-speaking  boys  would 
dare  to  jeer  at  a  stalwart  Aymara  carrier,  no  matter 
what  garb  he  chose  to  wear. 

In  fact,  the  Aymara  attitude  is  a  striking  example 
of  the  truth  of  Mr.  Bryce's  dictum  that  "serfs, 
when  they  have  attained  a  measure  of  independ- 
ence, resent  the  inferiority,  be  it  legal  or  social,  to 
which  they  find  themselves  condemned.  Discon- 
tent appears  and  social  friction  is  intensified,  not 
only  because  occasions  for  it  grow  more  frequent, 
but  because  the  temper  of  each  race  is  more  angry 
and  suspicious."  We  had  noticed  their  insolent 
demeanor  when  we  first  met  them  in  the  village  of 
Ocuri  on  the  road  from  Sucre  to  Challapata.  Poor 
Mr.  Bandelier  had  many  unpleasant  experiences 
with  them. 

The  streets  of  La  Paz,  picturesque  at  all  times, 
are  particularly  so  on  Sunday,  especially  on  Child- 
ren's Sunday.  In  1909,  that  event  came  on  January 
24th,  when  we  had  been  in  La  Paz  nearly  a  week. 

The  fair  held  on  that  day  was  unusually  interest- 
ing. From  early  morning  until  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon,  the  plazas  and  streets  were  thronged 
with  thousands  of  gaudily  dressed  Aymaras,  bent 
on  enjoying  themselves,  and  purchasing  toys  and 


234  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

other  trinkets  of  the  hundreds  of  peddlers  who  dis- 
played their  wares  in  every  inch  of  available  space 
on  the  three  principal  plazas  and  the  streets  connect- 
ing them.  While  the  characteristic  feature  of  this 
fair  is  the  number  of  toys  that  are  offered  for  sale, 
and  the  miniature  models  of  everything  the  Indians 
use  and  wear,  the  chance  to  sell  all  kinds  of  articles 
that  appeal  to  Aymard  taste  is  not  lost  sight  of. 
Spread  out  on  ponchos  on  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk 
and  in  the  middle  of  the  streets  was  pottery,  large 
and  small,  useful  and  ornamental;  tinware,  wooden- 
ware,  and  crockery;  dresses  for  women,  girls,  and 
dolls;  ponchos  of  every  grade  and  description,  from 
the  expensive  vicuna,  worth  forty  dollars,  to  the 
cheapest  kind  of  llama,  worth  only  two  or  three; 
musical  instruments:  little  guitars  with  bodies  made 
of  the  hard  shell  armor  of  the  Bolivian  armadillo,^ 
Aymard  flutes  and  flageolets  of  bamboo,  drums  and 
horns  made  in  Germany;  and  dolls  made  in  France; 
in  fact,  everything  that  one  can  think  of  that  would 
appeal  to  the  Indian  and  at  the  same  time  be  within 
the  possibilities  of  his  pocket-book. 

The  proper  thing  to  do,  and  the  one  that  seemed 
to  appeal  most  to  the  half-tipsy  Aymard  porter 
that  had  saved  up  a  few  pesos  from  the  rewards  of 
his  labor,  was  to  purchase  a  fat  little  doll  eight  or 
ten  inches  high,  made  in  the  form  of  a  humpbacked 
clown,  buy  gaudy  clothes  for  it,  and  then  load  it 

^  Mr.  Thomas  Barbour,  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology, 
Harvard  University,  tells  me  these  are  generally  Dasypus  vellurosus. 
Colored  plates  of  many  of  the  interesting  Aymard  toys  and  textiles 
can  be  found  in  Stubel's  Kultur  und  Industrie  SUd  Amerikanischer 
Volker. 


LA  PAZ  235 

down  with  tiny  models  of  brandy  bottles,  coca  wal- 
lets, and  chicha  jugs,  in  short  everything  it  might  be 
supposed  to  desire.  The  result  was  not  unlike  a 
heavily  laden  Santa  Claus,  although  the  face  of  the 
manikin,  instead  of  being  like  our  genial  old  saint, 
was  that  of  a  hideous,  debauched  vagabond. 

The  most  interesting  things  that  were  offered  for 
sale  were  little  plaster  models  of  Aymara  types;  a 
carrier  or  porter  with  a  red  knitted  cap  and  a  bit  of 
rope  in  his  hand,  on  the  run  to  get  his  load ;  a  woman 
seated  on  the  ground  before  a  miniature  loom  on 
which  she  had  begun  to  make  a  bright-colored 
poncho;  a  chola  with  her  white  straw  hat,  yellow 
fringed  shawl,  jewelled  neck,  close-fitting  bodice, 
gaudy  petticoats,  and  high-heeled  French  boots. 
Besides  there  were  rudely  made  little  rag  and 
wooden  dolls,  clad  in  characteristic  native  costumes ; 
clay  models  of  llamas,  cows,  birds,  and  mythical 
animals;  little  balsas  fifteen  inches  long  but  re- 
sembling in  every  particular  the  craft  of  Lake 
Titicaca;  small  packages  of  coca  leaves  done  up  in 
burlap  exactly  like  the  bundles  that  the  burros  bring 
across  the  Andes  from  the  warm  valleys  to  the  east- 
ward ;  little  copper  kettles  from  Coracora ;  tiny  clay 
models  of  cooking  utensils,  water-jugs,  and  little 
rawhide  sandals  scarcely  more  than  an  inch  in 
length,  faithful  imitations  of  the  clumsy  Aymar4 
footwear. 

One  of  the  smaller  plazas  was  given  over  almost 
entirely  to  games  of  chance.  The  favorite  variety 
consisted  of  a  form  of  dice.  Instead  of  being  marked 
with  the  usual  aces  and  deuces,  the  dice  were  cov- 


236  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ered  with  grotesque  figures.  Each  outfit  had  a 
different  set,  but  nearly  always  one  face  bore  the 
representation  of  a  drunken  man,  another  that  of  a 
devil  with  forked  tail  and  horns,  and  a  third  the 
effigy  of  the  sun.  The  others  frequently  carried 
pictures  of  wild  animals  such  as  lions,  tigers,  or 
jaguars.  As  three  dice  were  cast  at  a  time,  it  was 
possible  to  win  three  for  one,  provided  all  came  up 
the  same  way,  and  you  had  staked  your  money  on 
the  lucky  figure.  The  gambling  booths  were  well 
thronged.  Most  of  the  betting  was  done  with  reals, 
a  nickel  coin  worth  about  four  cents.  On  the  pave- 
ment in  the  middle  of  this  plaza  a  number  of  games 
of  lotto  were  going  on,  a  game  which  I  used  to  play 
in  my  childhood  when  anything  connected  with 
gambling  was  strictly  forbidden.  The  La  Paz  game 
was  played  as  usual  with  discs  and  cards.  Instead 
of  numbers  as  in  our  game,  each  disc  had  a  gaudily 
painted  picture  on  it,  and  each  card  several  pictures 
and  lines.  The  discs  were  drawn  from  a  greasy 
calico  bag  by  an  Indian  boy,  who  called  out  the 
name  of  the  figure  in  a  droning  voice,  and  the  cor- 
responding grotesque  picture  on  the  cards  was  then 
covered.  The  player  who  first  covered  all  the  pic- 
tures on  his  card  won  the  pool,  less  the  bank's 
percentage.  I  should  have  liked  to  join  the  game, 
but  as  it  was  conducted  entirely  in  Aymard,  I  found 
it  a  little  too  difficult  to  learn  the  names  of  the 
different  men  and  animals  that  figured  on  the  cards. 
Another  game  of  chance  that  attracted  a  dense 
crowd  consisted  in  selling  ten  numbers  at  a  real 
apiece.    If  your  number  was  drawn,  you  won  five 


LA  PAZ  237 

reals  and  the  bank  got  the  other  five.  The  only 
novel  feature  of  the  game  was  the  way  in  which  the 
drawing  was  made.  At  the  top  of  a  little  pole,  five 
feet  high,  were  ten  wooden  arms  radiating  from  it 
like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel.  From  the  end  of  each 
hung  a  little  clay  figure  of  an  animal,  lions,  llamas, 
dogs,  and  cows.  These  had  numbers  pasted  to  them. 
By  means  of  a  spring,  a  wooden  monkey  was  made 
to  climb  the  pole,  carrying  a  stick  in  his  hand  with 
a  hook  on  the  end  of  it.  In  the  meantime,  the  wheel 
of  numbered  animals  was  rapidly  revolved  until  the 
monkey  manikin  made  a  jab  with  his  hook  and 
pulled  off  one  of  the  clay  animals.  This  decided  the 
winning  number.  To  see  how  it  worked,  I  bought 
two  numbers  for  two  reals.  The  other  numbers  were 
soon  sold  in  the  crowd ;  the  monkey  clambered  pain- 
fully up  his  stick,  and  owing  to  some  defect  of  the 
mechanism,  pulled  off  two  clay  figures  instead  of 
one.  It  happened  that  both  of  them  bore  the  num- 
bers which  I  held  in  my  hand,  but  as  I  was  a  for- 
eigner, and  as  the  monkey  had  not  played  the  game 
squarely,  the  figures  were  re-arranged,  the  spring 
again  set,  and  my  luck  changed,  much  to  the  delight 
of  the  Aymards. 

The  home  of  Bolivia's  millionaires,  and  the  centre 
of  Bolivian  capital,  is  in  Sucre,  nevertheless  there 
are  nine  banks  of  issue  in  La  Paz,  including  several 
small  ones  that  have  no  agencies  in  southern  Bolivia 
and  whose  bills  have  only  local  circulation.  While 
we  were  here,  the  banks  put  into  operation  a  new 
rule  to  the  effect  that  bills  torn  in  two,  after  the 
favorite  custom  in  Bolivia  for  making  change,  would 


238  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

be  no  longer  accepted  at  the  bank  at  their  face 
value.  It  seemed  natural  and  proper  enkDugh  to  us, 
but  greatly  disturbed  the  small  tradesmen,  and 
seemed  likely  to  cause  considerable  inconvenience 
owing  to  the  scarcity  of  subsidiary  coinage. 

During  my  entire  visit  I  was  treated  most  cour- 
teously by  the  government  officials  and  I  regret  to 
feel  any  necessity  of  offering  serious  criticism  of 
anything  in  La  Paz.  Nevertheless  I  cannot  pass  by 
the  barbarous  state  of  affairs  which  we  found  in 
the  city  prison,  an  institution  which  is  entirely 
inadequate  for  a  city  of  this  size  and  a  disgrace  to 
any  modem  capital.  The  prisoners  are  herded 
together  without  regard  as  to  whether  they  are 
detained  on  suspicion  of  misdemeanor  or  convicted 
of  murder. 

Not  all  of  the  prisoners  are  treated  so  humanely. 
For  our  satisfaction,  the  jailer  unlocked  the  door  of 
one  cell,  six  feet  high,  three  feet  wide,  and  eighteen 
inches  deep.  As  the  door  opened,  the  occupant  of 
the  cell  tumbled  out  onto  the  floor.  He  was  a  police 
officer  in  full  uniform  who  for  some  delinquency  had 
been  imprisoned  for  twenty-four  hours  in  this  tor- 
ture chamber  where  he  could  neither  stand  up  nor 
lie  down,  I  shall  offer  no  further  criticism  because 
I  am  conscious  of  the  fact  that  travellers  in  nearly 
every  country  are  prone  to  find  fault  with  the  meth- 
ods of  punishment  employed  there.  Coming  from 
a  different  atmosphere,  things  seem  dreadful  to 
the  stranger  that  attract  no  attention  from  local 
observers,  and  which  are  really  not  as  hard  on  native 
prisoners  as  they  would  be  on  foreigners.   Further- 


LA  PAZ  239 

more,  the  distinguished  Bolivian  statesman  who 
had  poHtely  but  regretfully  yielded  to  our  request  to 
see  the  prison,  told  us  he  was  very  sorry  we  had 
seen  it  and  that  it  "would  be  improved  before 
long." 

The  traveller  in  search  of  new  itineraries  or  out- 
of-the-way  routes  will  have  plenty  of  suggestions 
made  to  him  by  the  hospitable  English  and  American 
colony  in  La  Paz,  and  if  he  is  at  all  uncertain  in  his 
mind  as  to  just  what  he  wants  to  do,  he  is  likely  to 
become  bewildered  by  the  number  of  attractive 
trips  which  he  can  make  from  La  Paz  as  a  base. 
La  Paz  contains  the  principal  offices  of  a  number  of 
mining  and  exploration  companies.  The  general 
manager  of  one  of  those  that  is  engaged  in  gold- 
mining  in  the  valley  of  the  Beni,  very  nearly  per- 
suaded me  to  abandon  my  proposed  trip  overland 
from  La  Paz  to  Lima,  and  go  across  the  mountains 
to  the  Beni,  thence  to  the  Amazon,  and  so  home. 
Had  it  not  required  more  time  than  I  had  at  my 
disposal,  and  been  a  somewhat  uncertain  venture 
at  this  time  of  the  year,  I  should  have  accepted  his 
invitation.  For  the  benefit  of  any  who  would  like 
to  plan  a  journey  across  South  America  by  one  of 
the  new  trade-routes  which  few  travellers  have  yet 
seen,  I  give  the  itinerary  as  it  was  given  me.  It 
makes  no  allowances  for  missing  connections:  — 

La  Paz  to  Sorata  by  coach  or  mule-back,  2  days. 

Sorata  to  Guanay,  a  hard  trip  on  mule-back,  7 
days. 

Guanay  to  Rurrenabaque,  on  the  river  Beni,  by 
raft,  4  days. 


240  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

(In  the  rainy  season,  that  is  from  January  to 
April,  there  are  very  few  rafts  to  be  had.  The  route 
then  would  be  from  Sorata  direct  to  Rurrenabaque, 
an  interesting  but  rather  difficult  trip  that  would 
take  fourteen  days  on  mule-back.) 

Rurrenabaque  to  Riberalta  at  the  junction  of 
the  Beni  and  the  Madre  de  Dios  by  steam  launch, 
4  days;  or  by  boat,  i8  days. 

From  Riberalta  to  Port  San  Antonio  by  boat,  6 
days. 

From  Port  San  Antonio  to  Manaos  on  the  Ama- 
zon, by  steamer,  5  days. 

Total :  La  Paz  to  Manaos,  not  counting  time  lost 
in  making  connection,  28  to  45  days. 


BAL6AS   NKAR   GUAQUI    ON    LAKE   TITICACA 


AN   OLD   CHURCH    NEAR   THE   BOLIVIA    RAILWAY 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   BOLIVIA   RAILWAY  AND  TIAHUANACO 

IN  order  to  attend  the  Scientific  Congress,  I  had 
been  obliged  to  interrupt  my  journey  from 
Buenos  Aires  to  Lima  and  had  left  my  saddles  and 
impedimenta  at  Oruro.  It  was  now  necessary  to 
return  thither  and  pick  up  the  overland  trail. 

Leaving  La  Paz  early  one  morning  by  the  electric 
train  for  the  Alto,  we  took  the  Guaqui  train  as  far 
as  Viacha,  the  northern  terminus  of  the  Bolivia 
Railway. 

This  railway  was  built  to  order  for  the  Bolivian 
Government  by  an  American  syndicate,  and  we 
found  it  equipped  with  American-made  locomotives 
and  cars,  and  operated  by  American  railroad  men. 
Most  of  them  had  had  some  experience  in  Mexico 
and  were  familiar  with  the  difficulties  of  handling 
Indian  laborers,  and  also  with  the  use  (and  abuse)  of 
the  Spanish  language.  None  of  them  seemed  to  be 
particularly  enthusiastic  over  the  prospects  of  the 
country,  and  all  were  looking  forward  with  pleasure 
to  the  time  of  their  vacation  when,  according  to 
the  terms  of  their  contract,  they  would  be  sent  back 
to  the  States. 

The  construction  of  this  road  over  the  plateau 
offered  no  great  engineering  difficulties  such  as  are 
met  with  by  the  roads  that  cross  the  Cordillera. 


242  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

The  heaviest  grade  is  not  over  ten  per  cent,  and 
there  are  no  tunnels.  To  offset  this  advantage, 
however,  rock  ballast  is  difficult  to  procure,  and  the 
earth  that  has  been  dug  up  on  each  side  of  the  track 
to  form  the  roadbed  seems  to  lack  cohesion.  The 
gauge  is  one  metre.  The  ties  are  of  California  red- 
wood and  Oregon  pine.  Owing  to  the  high  cost  of 
rails  and  ties  and  the  distance  which  they  had  to  be 
brought,  the  railroad  has  been  an  expensive  one  to 
build.  There  is  only  a  difference  of  eight  hundred 
and  sixteen  feet  between  the  highest  and  lowest 
portion  of  the  line,  yet  the  hundred  and  twenty-five 
miles  have  cost  two  million  dollars  and  a  quarter, 
or  eighteen  thousand  dollars  per  mile. 

The  Bolivia  Railway  is  remarkable  for  the 
promptness  with  which  it  was  constructed  after  the 
signing  of  the  contract.  The  National  City  Bank 
of  New  York  and  Speyer  &  Co.  agreed,  on  the  22nd 
of  May,  1906,  to  build  the  line  from  Viachi  to  Oruro. 
Work  was  commenced  seven  months  later,  and  the 
line  was  opened  for  traffic  in  less  than  two  years. 
Everything  considered,  the  prompt  completion  of 
the  work  is  a  great  credit  to  the  American  engineers 
who  had  the  line  in  charge. 

There  is  another  side  to  the  story,  however. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  opening  of  the  road  had 
to  be  rushed  in  order  to  please  President  Montes  of 
Bolivia,  trains  began  to  run  before  the  road  was  really 
finished,  and  it  has  been  necessary  to  continue  the 
service  in  order  to  avoid  criticism.  The  South  Amer- 
ican is  not  as  patient  as  the  North  American  and  is 
ever  ready  to  enter  vehement  and  furious  protests 


THE   BOLIVIA   RAILWAY  243 

against  anything  short  of  perfection  In  railway 
management.  Not  content  with  actual  progress, 
and  not  having  had  any  practical  experience  in  the 
difficulties  of  railroad  construction  and  mainten- 
ance, he  Imagines  that  all  accidents  and  all  short- 
comings on  the  railway  are  due  to  gross  carelessness 
on  the  part  of  the  chief  officials.  Every  time  a  train 
is  late,  he  blames  the  management  and  accuses  it  of 
bad  faith,  although  he  knows  many  of  his  friends 
and  neighbors  would  miss  any  train  that  started  on 
time.  The  necessity  of  catering  to  the  desires  of  the 
politicians  has  made  it  extremely  difficult  to  get  the 
roadbed  into  good  shape.  At  the  time  of  my  visit 
six  hundred  Indian  laborers,  conscripts,  were  still 
employed  In  getting  the  track  properly  ballasted. 
Their  wages  average  a  trifle  over  fifty  cents  a  day. 
I  had  heard  that  accidents  occurred  "every 
trip,"  but  thought  It  only  one  of  those  extravagant 
criticisms  that  are  so  common,  until  I  asked  the 
conductor.  He  admitted  that  some  of  the  wheels 
generally  left  the  rails  at  least  once  a  day.  For  an 
hour  or  so  nothing  happened,  and  in  my  interest 
in  the  landscape,  dotted  here  and  therewith  mud- 
colored  villages  and  ancient  tombs,  I  was  beginning 
to  forget  the  delightful  sense  of  approaching 
danger,  when  suddenly,  with  a  rattle  and  a  bang,  we 
came  to  a  sharp  stop.  One  of  the  forward  cars  had 
left  the  rails  and  plowed  its  way  across  the  ties  for 
some  distance.  The  train  crew,  well  experienced  in 
such  matters,  soon  had  the  refractory  car  back  on 
the  rails  again  and,  nothing  the  worse  for  our  acci- 
dent, we  proceeded  merrily  southward  for  another 


244  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

half  hour  until  brought  up  with  a  sudden  jerk  by  a 
repetition  of  the  rattle  and  bang.  This  time  it 
proved  to  be  the  tender  whose  wheels  had  found  a 
weak  spot  in  the  roadbed.  Upon  further  examina- 
tion, it  looked  as  though  we  were  going  to  be  de- 
layed for  at  least  four  or  five  hours.  The  tender  had 
lost  its  balance  and  was  lying  over  partly  on  one 
side,  kept  from  a  complete  upset  by  the  weight  of 
the  engine  and  the  strength  of  the  couplings.  In  ten 
or  fifteen  minutes,  however,  the  crew,  well  trained 
by  daily  practice,  had  the  port  wheels  back  on  the 
.track,  but  the  starboard  wheels  continued  to  remain 
in  the  air  five  or  six  inches  above  the  rails.  As  the 
water  tank  had  recently  been  filled,  the  centre  of 
gravity  was  too  high  to  allow  the  tender  to  assume 
its  normal  position,  and  the  added  weight  of  several 
men  failed  to  bring  it  down.  The  engineer  suggested 
that  a  bend  in  the  track  less  than  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  away  would  "do  the  business,"  and  so  he  was 
allowed  to  pull  down  to  the  curve.  It  looked  like  an 
extraordinarily  clever  acrobatic  performance  to  see 
this  refractory  tender  going  merrily  along  on  a 
single  rail.  True  to  the  engineer's  expectations,  as 
soon  as  the  wheels  felt  the  changed  angle  of  the 
track,  down  came  the  tender  with  a  lurch  that 
almost  capsized  it  on  the  other  side.  In  less  than 
twenty  minutes  we  were  again  on  our  way,  thankful 
that  we  had  experienced  wreckers  instead  of  the 
ordinary  train  crew  of  the  eastern  United  States, 
whom  I  have  seen  take  several  hours  to  perform 
what  these  men  did  in  a  few  minutes. 

Notwithstanding  our  two  accidents  we  arrived  at 


THE  BOLIVIA  RAILWAY  245 

Oniro  about  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  after  a 
journey  of  nine  hours,  on  time! 

We  found  the  Government  House  surrounded  by 
throngs  of  people.  Presently  a  company  of  infantry 
marched  through  the  streets  from  their  barracks 
and  took  up  a  position  in  the  courtyard.  The  occa- 
sion was  the  death  of  the  major  who,  six  weeks 
before,  had  read  the  proclamation  in  the  streets  and 
now  had  just  died  after  an  illness  of  twenty-four 
hours. 

The  scene  at  the  railroad  station  the  next  morn- 
ing at  eight  o'clock,  when  I  left  Oruro  to  return  to 
La  Paz,  was  characteristic.  The  local  regiment  was 
drawn  up  in  front  of  the  train  after  having  escorted 
the  remains  of  their  major  from  the  Prefecture.  Sev- 
eral hundred  citizens  thronged  the  platform  and 
tried  to  crowd  into  the  cars.  Friends  of  the  deceased 
major  and  his  family,  men  and  women,  were  weep- 
ing loudly,  and  some  of  the  women  uttered  piercing 
shrieks  and  wild  cries.  Altogether,  it  was  rather 
trying. 

The  plain  over  which  we  passed  for  a  good  part 
of  the  journey  was  very  flat,  treeless,  and  covered 
only  with  small,  scrubby  growth.  At  one  station  we 
were  met  by  thirty  or  forty  Indians  who  had  brought 
bundles  of  fagots,  dry  brush  from  the  neighboring 
mountains.  These  they  piled  onto  a  flat  car  and 
carried  down  the  line  to  one  of  the  new  settlements 
which  have  sprung  up  near  the  tracks,  and  which 
depend  on  the  trains  for  both  fuel  and  fresh  water. 
The  latter  is  carried  in  tank  cars,  like  oil. 

At    the    principal    stations,    a    dozen    or    more 


246  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Aymard  women,  seated  in  a  long  line  on  the  ground, 
offered  for  sale  chicha,  cakes,  buns,  and  little  pears, 
brought  from  the  fruitful  valleys  far  to  the  east- 
ward. 

The  only  part  of  the  road  that  offered  any  attract- 
ive scenery  was  that  near  the  river  Viscachani, 
an  affluent  of  the  Desaguadero.  Near  Ayoayo,  there 
are  a  number  of  ancient  tombs  east  of  the  track. 
Some  of  them  have  been  opened  by  the  railroad 
people  and  artificially  flattened  skulls  found.  The 
railroad  men  told  us  that  when  they  were  building 
the  line  they  saw  many  vicufias  and  biscachas,  but 
these  have  now  almost  entirely  disappeared. 

We  stopped  for  lunch  at  a  little  station  whose  new 
adobe  buildings  and  corrugated  iron  roofs  told  of 
railroad  enterprise.  The  restaurant  was  kept  by  a 
pleasant  American,  who  did  his  best  to  please  all  of 
his  patrons,  but  chiefly  the  railroad  "boys"  on 
whom  he  depends  for  most  of  his  income.  On  my 
way  down  to  Oruro,  I  had  had  the  good  fortune  to 
sit  at  the  same  table  with  part  of  the  train  crew,  but 
this  time  the  two  seats  nearest  me  were  occupied  by 
Bolivian  army  officers  who  were  as  rude  and  ill- 
mannered  as  possible.  If  I  had  introduced  myself 
as  a  delegado  they  would  have  been  the  pink  of 
politeness.  Any  one  connected  with  the  Govern- 
ment would  be  sure  to  receive  their  kind  attention. 
But,  so  far  as  they  could  see,  I  was  simply  an  Ameri- 
can traveller.  Accordingly  they  proceeded  to  act  as 
though  they  owned  the  restaurant  and  everything  in 
it,  presuming  that  I  would  be  glad  enough  to  get 
whatever  they  chose  to  leave.   There  is,  however,  a 


THE   BOLIVIA  RAILWAY  247 

certain  relief  in  avoiding  the  excessive  attentions 
which  such  men  as  these  bestow  on  any  one  with 
a  government  "pull,"  and  it  was  instructive  to  see 
how  they  behave  toward  foreigners  who  were  ap- 
parently travelling  without  official  recognition.  It 
enabled  me  the  better  to  appreciate  the  different 
attitude  that  is  taken  toward  South  Americans  by 
distinguished  foreign  visitors  who  are  in  the  hands 
of  attentive  friends  during  their  entire  stay,  and  by 
casual  travellers  who  have  failed  to  fortify  them- 
selves with  official  letters  of  introduction.  I  do  not 
mean  to  imply  that  one  who  merely  wishes  to  visit 
the  chief  centres  of  interest  will  fail  to  be  comfort- 
able unless  he  supplies  himself  with  important  look- 
ing documents  tied  with  red  tape  and  sealed  with 
a  great  seal,  but  I  do  know  from  personal  experience 
that  such  a  preparation  can  give  one,  in  at  least 
eleven  Latin-American  republics,  a  very  different 
impression  of  the  country  and  of  the  courtesy  of  its 
inhabitants. 

There  does  not  seem  to  be  much  likelihood  of  any 
large  amount  of  traffic  being  developed  along  this 
desolate  plateau.  The  railroad  must  depend  for  its 
freight  on  foreign  merchandise  coming  to  La  Paz 
via  Oruro  and  the  port  of  Antofagasta.  As  it  has 
a  longer  haul  than  that  of  its  competitor,  the 
Peruvian  Southern  from  Mollendo  to  Puno,  it  will 
have  some  difficulty  in  getting  much  of  this.  Fur- 
thermore, there  is  the  new  Chilean  government  rail- 
road now  under  construction,  a  direct  line  to  La  Paz 
from  the  port  of  Arica.  When  that  is  finished,  it  is 
difficult  to  say  how  the  line  from  Oruro  to  La  Paz 


248  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

can  secure  enough  freight  to  pay  expenses.  There 
will  always  be  a  certain  amount  of  passenger  traffic, 
but  at  present  one  train,  three  times  a  week,  is 
amply  sufficient. 

A  branch  of  the  Bolivia  Railway  is  now  in  course 
of  construction  from  Oruro  to  Cochabamba,  which 
will  bring  to  La  Paz  the  food  and  coca  cultivated 
in  the  warm  valleys  northeast  of  Sucre  where  frost 
is  unknown  and  there  is  an  abundance  of  rain.  There 
is  an  imperative  demand  for  coca  all  over  the  pla- 
teau where  it  cannot  possibly  grow.  Furthermore 
it  does  not  keep  well,  loses  its  flavor  after  four  or 
five  months,  and  fresh  supplies  have  to  be  brought 
continually  from  the  eastern  valleys.  This  makes  it 
an  important  article  of  commerce  to  be  reckoned 
as  one  of  the  surest  sources  of  revenue  for  the 
Bolivia  Railway. 

Shortly  before  reaching  Viacha  we  passed  a  trun- 
cated hill,  the  Pan  de  Sucre,  that  has  been  a  favorite 
camping-ground  in  revolutionary  wars.  It  is  easily 
defended  and  its  summit  is  spacious  enough  to 
furnish  refuge  for  quite  a  number  of  troops.  On  the 
hills  west  of  it,  romantically  perched  on  an  almost 
inaccessible  peak,  is  a  little  church  where  services 
are  held  once  a  year.  To  the  eastward  we  could 
begin  to  see  the  magnificent  snow-range  of  the 
Bolivian  Andes.  Words  fail  to  describe  adequately 
the  grandeur  of  the  Cordillera  Real  with  its  two 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  snow-capped  mountains, 
scarcely  one  of  which  lies  at  a  lesser  elevation 
than  twenty  thousand  feet.  It  must  be  seen  to 
be  appreciated.    Still,  one   can   get  a  very  vivid 


TIAHUANACO  249 

impression  of  it  in  the  pages  of  Sir  Martin  Con- 
way's fascinating  "Climbing  and  Exploration  in 
the  Bolivian  Andes." 

The  next  day  after  my  return  from  Oruro,  through 
the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Rankin  Johnson,  I  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  visiting  the  village  and  ruins  of  Tia- 
huanaco  on  the  plains  several  miles  south  of  Lake 
Titicaca. 

Leaving  La  Paz  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
we  had  six  hours  in  and  around  the  village  and 
returned  in  time  for  dinner  the  same  evening.  It 
was  necessary  to  take  our  lunch  with  us,  for  there 
is  no  inn  and  the  little  village  shops  afford  scarcely 
anything  that  is  fit  to  eat.  The  Tiahuanaco  station 
is  within  a  mile  of  the  most  interesting  ruins.  The 
railroad  track  passes  within  a  few  feet  of  three  of 
the  monolithic  images  and  one  of  the  monolithic 
doorways. 

At  the  station  we  secured  the  services  of  a  pic- 
turesquely dressed  old  Aymara  who  the  station 
master  assured  us  was  a  competent  guide.  He  took 
us  across  the  dusty  plain  towards  a  large  mound 
which  had  once  been  surrounded  by  terraces  and 
stone  walls.  It  is  popularly  known  as  the  "fortress." 
Originally  a  truncated  pyramid  about  six  hundred 
feet  long,  four  hundred  feet  wide,  and  fifty  feet  high, 
treasure-seekers  have  dug  great  holes  in  its  sides 
and  excavated  part  of  Its  summit  in  an  effort  to  find 
the  "buried  riches  of  the  Incas."  Besides  the  for- 
tress there  seems  to  be  evidence  of  a  great  "temple " 
and  also  of  a  "palace."  The  "temple,"  roughly 
outlined  by  rude  stone  blocks,  occupies  an  area  of 


250  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

nearly  four  acres.  For  the  most  part  the  blocks 
are  from  six  to  ten  feet  in  height  and  three  feet  in 
thickness.  Within  there  is  still  evidence  of  a  ter- 
race, and  from  this  on  the  eastern  side  there  leads 
a  remarkable  stairw-ay.  Scattered  about  over  the 
^ound  and  all  over  the  plain  are  many  rectangular 
stones  whose  purpose  has  been  entirely  lost,  thanks 
to  the  activity  of  treasure- seekers  who  have  ruth- 
lessly moved  them  from  their  original  position  and 
left  them  lying  in  indescribable  confusion.  There 
seems  to  be  evidence  that  many  of  the  blocks  were 
held  in  place  by  strong  metal  pins,  for  there  are 
round  holes  drilled  into  the  stones  and  insertions 
made  to  receive  "T"  clamps. 

The  principal  ruins  are  in  a  broad  level  part  of 
the  plain  where  the  soil  is  firm  and  dry.  They  con- 
sist of  rows  of  erect,  roughly-shaped  monoliths, 
sections  of  foundations,  portions  of  giant  stairways, 
monolithic  doorways,  some  bearing  carvings  in  low 
relief,  monolithic  statues,  and  innumerable  small 
cut  stones  strewn  about  on  all  sides. 

Great  stone  platforms,  weighing  many  tons, 
aroused  our  keenest  curiosity.  One  looks  around 
the  plain  in  vain  for  a  near-by  quarry  from  which 
they  could  have  come.  The  most  natural  supposi- 
tion is  that  they  must  have  been  quarried  on  the 
spot  from  ledges  outcropping  here,  for  it  would  seem 
scarcely  possible  that  blocks  twenty  feet  long,  ten 
feet  wide,  and  four  feet  thick  could  have  been  trans- 
ported any  distance**  by  the  primitive  methods  at 
the  disposal  of  those  prehistoric  people. 

The  ruins 'were  much  more  complete  in  1875  ^t 


GREAT   PLATFORMS   OF   STONE    WEIGHING   MANY     IONS' 


PART   OF   THE   GREAT    MONOLITHIC    DOORWAY 


TIAHUANACO  251 

the  time  of  the  visit  of  the  American  archaeologist, 
E.  G.  Squier,  who  spent  some  time  here,  and  whose 
account  of  the  ruins  in  his  book  on  Peru  is  one  of 
the  most  complete  and  satisfactory  that  we  possess. 
Unfortunately,  his  drawings  give  an  erroneous  im- 
pression of  the  size  of  many  of  the  monuments 
which  are  not  so  large  as  he  has  represented  them. 

Squier  saw  no  subterranean  vaults  or  passages, 
but  we  were  more  fortunate,  for  only  a  short  time 
previous  to  our  visit,  thanks  to  the  activity  of  Mr. 
John  Pierce  Hope  of  La  Paz,  who  has  taken  a  great 
interest  in  the  work  of  exploration,  a  small  vault 
was  discovered  and  we  were  able  to  enter  and  exam- 
ine it.  It  is  about  six  feet  square  and  the  same  in 
depth  and  is  made  of  beautifully  cut  stones,  accu- 
rately fitted  together.  Nothing  of  value  was  found 
in  the  vault  and  it  is  probably  one  of  those  to 
which  Von  Tschudi,  who  was  here  before  Squier's 
visit,  refers.  The  winds  that  blow  over  these  sandy 
plains  will  soon  fill  the  vault  and  cover  it  up 
again  and  leave  it  to  be  rediscovered  by  some  future 
traveller. 

The  largest  monolithic  doorway,  now  broken,  is 
covered  with  figures  not  unlike  some  of  the  Central 
American  monuments.  It  is  very  different  from 
anything  else  here  or  in  Cuzco.  The  story  goes,  that 
when  the  Spaniards  first  arrived,  it  was  lying  on  its 
side,  and  there  appears  to  be  no  record  to  show  who 
raised  it  nor  when  the  crack  developed  which  led 
finally  to  the  door  breaking  into  two  parts.  The 
southern  and  larger  half  has  lost  its  balance  and 
will  soon  be  lying  on  the  ground.  By  a  curious  coin- 


252  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

cidence,  Mr.  Barbour,  who  made  a  careful  photo- 
graph of  the  carvings  on  this  doorway,  afterwards 
secured  from  a  grave  near  Pachacamac  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lima,  a  textile  that  was  decorated  with 
a  similar  pattern. 

After  examining  the  ruins,  we  spent  an  hour  or 
more  in  the  village  itself  where  we  were  struck  by 
the  great  number  of  finely  cut  stones  inserted  into 
the  walls  of  the  huts  and  used  as  paving  in  the 
streets.  The  church  on  the  plaza  is  built  entirely 
of  blocks  brought  from  the  ruins.  It  has  a  fence  or 
wall  in  front  composed  of  a  row  of  arches  that 
reminded  me  of  Potosi  and  Bartolo.  The  exterior 
of  the  church  gives  no  evidence  of  the  extraordinary 
magnificence  within,  which  is  quite  in  keeping  with 
the  ancient  importance  of  this  little  village.  Here 
we  found  religious  paintings,  some  of  them  very 
good,  elaborate  gilded  carvings,  and  an  altar  built 
of  pure  silver,  beautifully  worked. 

La  Paz  has  two  or  three  remarkable  collections  of 
antiquities  which  consist  largely  of  material  brought 
from  Tiahuanaco.  Perhaps  the  best  is  in  the  Na- 
tional Museum,  which  owes  its  existence  to  the 
enlightened  patriotism  of  Sr.  Don  Manuel  Vicente 
Ballivian,  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished Bolivian  families,  and  the  leading  anti- 
quarian in  the  republic. 

Of  the  ancient  Tiahuanaco,  there  is  comparatively 
little  left  now.  Not  only  did  the  Spaniards  use  cart- 
loads of  it  in  building  the  churches  of  La  Paz  and 
Guaqui,  but  the  modern  Guaqui-to-La  Paz  railroad 
has  taken  away  within  the  past  ten  years  more  than 


TIAHUANACO  253 

five  hundred  trainloads  of  stone  for  building  its 
bridges  and  warehouses.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  the  railroad  manager,  whose  business  it  is  to 
secure  lasting  results  with  the  greatest  possible 
economy,  it  must  have  seemed  a  most  fortunate 
circumstance  that  within  a  few  rods  of  his  tracks 
there  should  be  such  a  quantity  of  nicely  cut  stone, 
and  "a  lot  of  old  stone  walls,"  all  ready  to  use! 
0  tempora  I  0  mores  I 


CHAPTER  XIX 
cuzco 

WE  left  La  Paz  on  January  26,  1909,  at  8.30 
A.  M.  When  we  reached  Guaqui  we  found 
that  our  steamer  was  to  be  the  old  Yavari  that  we 
had  before.  She  was  late  in  arriving  from  Puno; 
the  afternoon  was  spent  in  unloading  her  cargo; 
and  we  did  not  sail  until  eight  o'clock  that  evening. 

The  night  was  wet  and  chilly.  Thunder-storms 
and  squalls  made  the  lake  quite  rough  and  we  had 
the  usual  discomforts.  The  storm  and  the  late  start 
kept  us  from  reaching  Puno  before  11  A.  M.  The 
regular  train  had  gone,  but  a  special  was  made  up 
for  the  convenience  of  the  Arequipa  passengers  and 
we  reached  Juliaca  at  one  o'clock.  Here  I  bade  the 
last  of  the  delegados  farewell  and  asked  for  the  train 
for  Cuzco.  "It  had  left  several  hours  before  and  the 
next  train  was  due  to  leave  day  after  to-morrow!" 

Thanks  to  the  courtesy  of  the  railway  officials, 
however,  a  special  train,  consisting  of  half  a  dozen 
freight  cars  and  a  small  passenger  coach,  was  made 
up  to  take  me  as  far  as  Checcacupe. 

The  coach  which  had  been  put  at  my  disposal 
was  old  and  very  small,  about  the  size  of  an  ancient 
bob-tailed  horse-car.  Moreover,  it  was  already 
occupied  by  a  dozen  native  passengers  who,  like 
myself,  had  missed  the  regular  train.    As  usual, 


CUZCO  255 

they  had  no  end  of  bags,  bundles,  and  boxes.  There 
was  hardly  room  to  squeeze  inside  the  door.  Un- 
doubtedly they  had  better  right  on  the  train  than 
I  did,  for  they  had  paid  their  fares  while  I  was  riding 
on  a  pass.  So  I  relinquished  any  claim  to  the  coach 
and  took  the  fireman's  seat  in  the  locomotive,  which 
afforded  me  a  better  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
country. 

We  pulled  out  of  Juliaca  shortly  after  two  o'clock 
and  rattled  along  over  the  plains  north  of  Titicaca. 
Here  I  saw  for  the  first  time  llamas  tied  to  stakes. 
Of  all  the  thousands  of  llamas  seen  in  Bolivia,  I  do 
not  remember  one  that  was  tied.  But  I  soon  found 
that  the  practice  is  customary  in  and  around  Cuzco. 

The  inquisitive  Indians  who  gathered  at  the  sta- 
tions to  stare  at  our  train  while  the  engine  was  get- 
ting a  drink  of  water  were  mild-mannered  Quichuas. 
Puno  is  the  northern  limit  of  the  Aymaras.  The 
Quichua  women  here  wore  broad-brimmed  black 
hats  covered  with  velvet  and  ornamented  with 
tinsel. 

We  did  not  reach  Ayavari  until  six  o'clock  and 
it  was  dark  before  we  approached  the  upper  part  of 
the  valley  of  the  Pucara  River  and  began  to  climb 
up  over  the  Vilcanota  mountains.  The  night  air 
was  exceedingly  cold,  but  fortunately,  by  this  time, 
most  of  the  native  passengers  had  left  the  train  and 
I  was  able  to  get  a  seat  in  the  coach. 

The  highest  station  on  the  road.  La  Raya,  is 
14,150  feet  above  sea  level.  From  here,  there  is  a 
rapid  descent  of  2500  feet  to  Sicuani  which  was  for 
many  years  the  northern  terminal  of  the  railroad. 


256  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Here,  in  search  of  supper,  I  stumbled  through  the 
dark  streets  with  the  train-crew  to  a  filthy  little 
Indian  chicheria  where  a  half-drunken  brigand  and 
his  besotted  spouse  were  persuaded  to  give  us  hot 
tea,  beer,  and  stale  bread.  The  conductor  of  the 
train  said  I  would  have  to  spend  the  night  at 
Sicuani  as  he  did  not  propose  to  go  any  further  in 
the  dark.  Unfortunately  for  him,  orders  came 
directing  him  to  proceed  at  once  twenty-five  miles 
further  to  Checcacupe  in  order  that  I  might  catch 
the  north-bound  morning  train.  The  engineer 
declared  that  it  was  a  dreadfully  risky  run  from 
Sicuani  to  Checcacupe  and  that  we  would  probably 
never  reach  our  destination  at  all.  But  I  was  too 
tired  and  sleepy  to  care  very  much,  and  as  soon  as 
I  got  back  into  my  little  bobtailed  car,  pulled  out 
my  sleeping  bag,  and  promptly  forgot  all  about  the 
train  and  the  danger  of  falling  into  the  Vilcanota 
River.  The  next  thing  I  knew  the  Checcacupe  sta- 
tion agent  was  flashing  his  lantern  in  my  face  and 
telling  me  to  lie  still  as  this  was  much  the  best  place 
for  me  at  this  time  of  night  (i  A.  M.),  and  I  should 
not  be  disturbed  until  morning.  I  thanked  him 
and  dropped  off  to  sleep  again,  dimly  conscious  that 
some  kind  of  an  animal  was  scratching  about  on  the 
floor  of  the  little  car  among  my  dunnage  bags.  When 
I  woke  up,  aroused  by  the  shouts  of  the  train-men 
who  were  making  up  the  train  for  Cuzco,  I  found 
that  my  visitor  was  a  little  seven-year-old  Quichua 
street-Arab  who  could  speak  no  Spanish,  but  who 
said  as  plainly  as  possible  that  he  would  be  my  slave 
for  ever  after  and  desired  to  travel  in  my  company. 


CUZCO  257 

I  gave  him  part  of  my  breakfast  and  thought  little 
more  about  it,  especially  as  Mr.  Clarence  Hay,  who 
had  kindly  agreed  to  accompany  me  overland  from 
Cuzco  to  Lima,  met  me  here.  Mr.  Smith  had  gone 
back  to  New  Haven  to  pursue  his  studies. 

Mr.  Hay  and  I  were  soon  installed  on  the  train 
for  Cuzco.  We  were  already  well  on  our  way  when 
the  polite  Peruvian  conductor  smilingly  informed 
us  that  there  was  a  boy  in  the  second-class  car  who 
insisted  he  belonged  to  me.  It  was  too  late  to  put 
the  little  fellow  off,  so  I  decided  to  be  responsible 
for  him;  but  he  was  a  foxy  little  rascal,  slipped  out 
of  the  train  at  some  station  before  we  reached  Cuzco, 
and  disappeared.  Children  mature  early  in  the 
Andes. 

At  the  time  of  our  visit,  the  Cuzco  railroad  had 
only  just  been  completed.  The  track  runs  along 
the  steep  side  of  a  valley  which  has  an  embarrassing 
habit  of  sending  down  landslides  quite  unexpect- 
edly, so  the  journey  was  a  bit  slow  and  uncertain. 
The  natives  are  fond  of  exaggerating  its  irregulari- 
ties, and  said  it  would  take  several  days,  but  we 
were  to  reach  Cuzco  on  time,  notwithstanding  all 
their  dismal  forebodings. 

The  scenery  was  very  pretty.  The  Vilcanota 
valley  rapidly  narrows  as  it  descends,  and  the  river 
becomes  a  roaring  torrent.  The  climate  is  delight- 
ful and  has  been  likened  to  that  of  Italy.  The  soil 
is  extremely  fertile  and  produces  a  remarkable 
variety  of  crops. 

The  road  follows  the  west  bank  of  the  Vilcanota 
until  it  is  met  by  the  Huatanay  River.  Here  it  turns 


258  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

abruptly  to  the  left  and  enters  the  lovely  region 
that  was  once  the  very  heart  of  the  Inca  Empire. 
The  valley  of  the  Huatanay  is  still  densely  popu- 
lated, as  it  always  has  been.  In  quick  succession 
the  train  passed  the  large  Indian  cities  of  Oropeza, 
San  Geronimo,  and  San  Sebastian.  Suddenly  we 
stopped  m  the  fields  and  too^on  a  group  of  laughing 
Peruvian  sports  who  had  waved  a  piece  of  red 
flannel  to  save  themselves  the  trouble  of  going  to 
the  nearest  railway  station.  One  of  the  joys  of  this 
railroad  is  that  everybody  that  is  anybody  flags 
the  train  whenever  he  pleases.  The  habit  interferes 
somewhat  with  the  time-tables,  but  no  one  cares 
(except  the  railroad  people),  and  it  gives  an  indi- 
vidual a  great  sense  of  his  own  importance  to  make* 
a  train  stop  while  he  climbs  on  board.  A  few  min- 
utes later  we  reached  the  temporary  Cuzco  station^ 
a  group  of  small,  corrugated-iron  buildings  which 
stand  in  a  plain  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  the  city. 
The  most  agreeable  approach  is  by  way  of  thd 
Alameda,  an  ill-kept  avenue  with  a  double  row  of 
alder  trees,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Rio  Huatanay. 
From  It  we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  convent  of  Santo 
Domingo,  the  ancient  Temple  of  the  Sun,  across 
the  ravine  to  the  east.  On  the  west  of  the  Alameda 
is  the  new  rifle  range  of  the  local  shooting  club. 
The  avenue  itself  leads  into  one  of  the  principal 
streets  of  the  best  residence  quarter,  where  Spanish 
houses  have  almost  completely  obliterated  all  traces 
of  Inca  occupation.  As  soon  as  we  reached  the  cen- 
tre of  the  city,  long  walls  of  beautifully  cut  stone, 
laid  without  cement,  and  fitted  together  with  the 


LLA    ; 


-^ 


k  F  cuzco 


||    ;SAHUAMAN 


CUZCO  259 

patience  of   expert  stone-cutters,  assured  us  that 
this  was  verily  the  Cuzco  of  Pizarro,  Garcilasso  de  la 
Vega,  and  the  Spanish  chroniclers.    The  one  dis- 
tinctive feature  that  separates  Cuzco  from  all  other 
cities  in  America  is   the  prevalence  of  these  long, 
ilark,  sombre  walls.    When  you  look  at  a  building 
//from  a  distance,  it  seems  to  be  an  ordinary  two- 
[  /  story  Spanish  house  with  a  red-tiled  roof,  wooden 
'  balconies,  and  white-washed  adobe  walls.    As  you 
i   come  a  little  closer,  it  strikes  you  that  the  white- 
wash has  been  worn  off  the  lower  part  of  the  walls, 
but  when  you  come  closer  still,  you  find  that  this 
portion  consists  of  unpainted  Inca  stone-work,  still 
fresh  and  attractive. 

The  most  striking  wall  in  Cuzco  is  that  of  the 
palace  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  Inca  Rocca, 
which  is  composed  of  very  large  irregular  boulders. 
They  are  of  all  sizes  and  shapes,  some  with  as  many 
as  a  dozen  angles,  but  all  fitting  perfectly.  The 
stones  used  in  most  of  the  ancient  palaces  and  tem- 
ples are  more  nearly  rectangular.  The  corner-stones 
of  buildings  are  frequently  rounded  off,  but  there 
are  almost  no  circular  walls  in  Cuzco.  The  principal 
exception  to  this  is  in  the  Dominican  Monastery, 
once  the  temple  of  the  Sun,  where  the  end  of  one 
of  the  buildings  is  rounded  like  the  chancel  of  a 
church.  This  is,  perhaps,  the  finest  bit  of  stone- 
cutting  in  Cuzco,  and  is  shown  off  by  the  Dominican 
Fathers  with  great  zest.  E.  G.  Squier,  who  lived 
for  some  time  in  the  convent  and  made  a  minute 
examination  of  these  walls,  found  that  the  sides  of 
contact  of  each  stone  are  true  radii  of  a  double 


26o  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

circle,  and  that  the  line  of  general  inclination  of  the 
wall  is  perfect  in  every  block. 

In  some  of  the  walls,  the  outer  surfaces  of  the 
stones  are  perfectly  flat,  but  in  general,  they  are 
slightly  convex.  The  blocks  vary  in  length  from  a 
few  inches  to  several  feet,  although  it  is  very  rare 
to  find  any  more  than  five  feet  long.  All  are  laid 
with  remarkable  precision  and  at  first  sight  appear 
to  be  absolutely  rectangular.  On  closer  examina- 
tion, you  find  that  there  is  scarcely  an  absolute 
right  angle  in  the  whole  wall.  Each  block  is  slightly 
irregular,  but  this  irregularity  matches  so  exactly 
with  that  of  the  next  that  there  is  no  space  for  a 
needle  to  enter.  The  result  of  such  careful  workman- 
ship, combined  with  the  use  of  dark-colored  stone, 
is  to  produce  a  dignity  and  solidity  that  is  very 
impressive. 

The  characteristics  of  Inca  architecture  are  in 
part  the  same  as  those  of  the  older  Egyptian  ruins : 
individual  blocks  of  great  size;  doors  narrower 
at  the  top  than  at  the  bottom,  and  walls  with  a  base 
markedly  wider  than  the  apex  so  that  the  sloping 
front  is  a  distinct  feature.  Probably  the  same  meth- 
ods which  the  Egyptians  evolved  in  order  to  put  in 
position  large  monoliths  too  heavy  to  be  lifted  by 
hand,  were  employed  by  the  Incas.  They  seem  to 
have  thought  nothing  of  fitting  carefully  into  place, 
on  top  of  a  wall  fifteen  feet  high,  boulders  weighing 
several  tons. 

The  followers  of  Pizarro  who  divided  Cuzco 
among  themselves,  built  their  homes  on  the  massive 
walls  of  the  Inca  palaces.   Sometimes  they  left  the 


CUZCO  261 

Inca  wall  standing  to  a  height  of  six  or  seven  feet. 
In  other  instances  it  still  rises  to  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  Incas  did  not  use 
cement.  In  that  case  the  Spaniards  would  have 
found  it  much  more  difficult  to  have  destroyed  the 
ancient  palaces,  and  more  would  have  been  left  for 
the  delectation  of  students  and  travellers  to-day. 
Under  the  circumstances,  it  was  a  simple  matter 
for  the  faithful  disciples  of  the  church  to  raise 
temples  and  towers  of  great  beauty  by  the  simple 
process  of  tearing  down  Inca  palaces  and  using  the 
material  according  to  the  ideas  of  ecclesiastical 
architecture  which  they  had  brought  with  them 
from  Spain. 

Many  travellers  have  studied  Cuzco  but  none 
with  so  great  care  as  Mr.  Squier,  in  whose  "Peru" 
may  be  found  many  drawings  and  plans  of  the 
rooms. 

Thirty  years  ago,  when  he  was  here,  there  was  no 
inn,  and  he  was  obliged  to  depend  on  the  kindness 
of  the  local  officials  and  the  hospitality  of  the 
monasteries.  But  there  is  now  a  commodious 
Hotel  Comercio  where  reasonably  good  meals  and 
decent  bedrooms  enabled  us  to  be  very  comfort- 
able. Of  course,  the  "plumbing"  was  conspicuous 
by  its  absence,  and  there  was  by  no  means  so  much 
luxury  as  at  the  Hotel  Marone  In  Arequlpa.  How- 
ever, even  the  Incas  were  not  remarkably  cleanly 
and  It  is  as  well  not  to  have  too  many  of  the  con- 
veniences of  the  twentieth  century  when  living  in  a 
metropolis  of  the  fifteenth. 


262  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Cuzco  has  long  been  notorious  as  one  of  the  dirti- 
est cities  in  America;  and  it  justifies  its  reputation. 
The  stone  paving  of  the  streets  is  extremely  rough 
and  unspeakably  filthy.  To  add  to  the  slime,  the 
sewers  are  open  conduits  running  through  the 
middle  of  the  narrow  streets.  In  the  wet  season, 
they  are  kept  flushed  by  heavy  downpours.  In  the 
dry  season,  they  are  unspeakable. 

One  has  to  be  very  careful  where  one  steps  while 
investigating  the  ancient  structures,  for  the  present 
inhabitants  are  no  more  cleanly  or  sanitary  in  their 
habits  than  their  predecessors.  It  is  pathetic  to  see 
the  filth  and  squalor  that  surround  the  walls  of  the 
magnificent  old  edifices. 

Although  we  rarely  forgot  to  pick  our  way  care- 
fully through  the  streets,  the  practice  soon  became 
a  habit  and  did  not  interfere  with  the  enjoyment 
of  the  brilliant  colors  affected  by  the  Quichuas. 
Their  home-made  ponchos  and  shawls,  fastened 
with  one  pin  instead  of  two  as  in  Potosi,  are  woven 
of  native  wool  and  cotton.  Yet  though  the  material 
may  be  as  rare  and  uncommon  as  real  alpaca, 
vicuna,  or  llama  wool,  the  brilliant  hues  are  unmis- 
takably aniline.  In  fact,  in  the  market-place  of 
almost  every  city  in  the  Andes,  one  is  pretty  sure  to 
find  a  native  peddler  whose  specialty  is  the  sale  of 
German  dyes. 

The  most  striking  part  of  the  Cuzco  Quichua  cos- 
tume is  the  pancake  hat.  It  is  reversible,  being 
made  of  a  straw  disc  with  a  cloth-covered  hole  in 
the  centre.  On  one  side,  for  rainy  weather,  the  disc 
is  lined  with  coarse  red  flannel  or  some  other  worsted 


CUZCO  263 

stuff,  but  the  dry  weather  side  is  elaborately  cov- 
ered with  tinsel  on  black  velvet.  Likewise,  the  loose, 
baggy  cloth  that  covers  the  opening  in  the  centre 
is  lined  with  velveteen  on  the  fair-weather  side  and 
coarse  woolen  stuff  for  rain.  The  men's  hats  are 
slightly  larger  than  the  women's,  but  otherwise 
the  fashion  seems  to  be  alike  for  both  sexes. 

Opposite  our  hotel  was  the  church  and  convent 
of  La  Merced.  Its  cloisters  are  noted  for  their  fine 
old  paintings,  their  elaborately  carved  stone  col- 
umns and  arches.  Its  gardens  are  filled  with  rare 
flowers  and  shrubs.  In  the  crypt  beneath  the  altar, 
PIzarro's  partner,  Almagro,  and  his  son  are  sup- 
posed to  have  been  buried.  The  obliging  Brother 
who  showed  us  the  monastery  had  never  heard  of 
any  such  tradition.  "Quien  sabe?"  and  a  shrug  of 
the  shoulders  was  all  he  would  reply. 

Not  far  from  La  Merced  is  the  warehouse  of  Sr. 
LomellinI,  Cuzco's  leading  merchant,  an  Italian 
gentleman  who,  while  building  up  an  extensive 
business,  has  devoted  himself  to  a  study  of  the  Inca 
civilization.  He  has  brought  himself  in  as  close 
touch  with  it  as  possible;  the  very  entrance  to  his 
warehouse  is  a  fine  old  Inca  doorway,  while  his 
home,  half  way  up  the  side  of  Sacsahuaman,  was 
once  the  site  of  the  palace  of  Manco  Capac,  the  first 
famous  Inca.  He  showed  me  with  a  sad  smile  a  few 
elaborately  carved  bronze  figures  or  idols  that 
looked  very  much  as  though  they  had  been  buried 
for  centuries  in  the  mould  of  a  royal  mausoleum, 
but  Instead  were  "made  In  Germany."  Later  I 
found  similar  specimens  in  Lima,  where  one  "anti- 


264  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

quarian"  had  the  effrontery  to  have  three  of  iden- 
tically the  same  pattern,  differing  only  in  color, 
exposed  for  sale  in  the  same  showcase. 

West  of  Sr.  Lomellini's  warehouse  is  the  mon- 
astery and  plaza  of  San  Francisco.  The  plaza  is 
chiefly  interesting  for  the  Beggars  Fair  which  is 
held  here  every  Saturday  evening.  There  are  prac- 
tically no  pawn  shops  in  Cuzco,  but  this  fair  takes 
their  place.  We  were  told  it  was  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity to  obtain  bargains.  It  may  be  so  for  the 
natives,  but  as  we  were  branded  at  once  as  "foreign- 
ers who  had  plenty  of  money,"  the  prices  of  every- 
thing were  put  up  to  the  highest  possible  notch 
and  kept  there.  I  was  surprised  at  the  amount  of 
old  rubbish,  rusty  nails,  bits  of  broken  pottery, 
and  worn-out  second-hand  clothing,  hundreds  of 
things  that  one  rarely  sees  exposed  for  sale  in  a 
pawn  shop,  and  many  on  which  no  one  but  a  junk 
dealer  would  advance  a  penny.  As  a  picturesque 
spectacle,  however,  the  Fair  was  most  attractive. 
The  plaza  was  lit  up  by  smoking  torches  and 
crowded  with  a  swarm  of  bargain  hunters  who 
jostled  each  other  noisily  up  and  down  the  long 
lines  of  traders  seated  on  the  ground  behind  their 
wares. 

Nearly  all  the  fairs  in  the  Andes  are  held  on  Sun- 
day mornings.  The  market-places  are  usually 
entirely  deserted  in  the  evening.  I  suppose  in  this 
fair  it  would  not  do  to  expose  cast-off  household 
treasures  to  the  full  light  of  day.  Not  only  is  the 
chance  of  making  a  sale  much  greater  when  the 
article  can   only  be  seen  by  torch-light,  but  the 


CUZCO  265 

newly-poor  individual,  who  is  forced  to  bring  hither 
his  household  goods,  may  more  easily  avoid  the 
scrutiny  of  his  newly-rich  neighbors. 

Looming  up  in  the  darkness,  above  the  torches, 
the  tall  tower  of  the  Franciscan  church  added  a 
touch  of  solemnity  to  the  scene.  One  afternoon  we 
had  an  opportunity  to  visit  the  monastery  and 
examine  the  beautiful  wood-carvings  in  the  choir. 
Like  all  the  Franciscan  establishments  that  we 
visited,  the  rule  of  the  order  is  strictly  enforced, 
the  gardens  are  well  kept,  and  although  one  can 
easily  see  that  the  Order  has  seen  better  days,  there 
is  little  to  criticise. 

The  Great  Plaza  of  Cuzco,  once  much  larger  than 
it  is  now,  and  the  scene  of  many  I nca  carnivals,  is 
still  very  attractive.  On  its  east  side  stands  the 
massive  cathedral  and  its  chapels,  said  to  have  been 
built  entirely  of  stones  taken  from  Inca  palaces 
near  by. 

On  the  south  are  the  beautifully  carved  stone 
towers  of  what  was  formerly  the  Church  of  the 
Jesuits.  Flanking  these  are  picturesque  two-story 
buildings  with  red-tiled  roofs  and  overhanging 
wooden  balconies  supported  by  a  row  of  columns 
and  arches.  In  the  arcades  numerous  small  trades- 
men display  their  wares.  On  the  west  and  north 
of  the  plaza  are  more  two-story  houses  with  arcades 
filled  with  interesting  little  booths.  Here,  and  on 
the  stones  of  the  Plaza,  are  cloth  merchants  who 
have  gathered  their  wares  from  England  and  the 
Continent,  North  and  South  America;  venders  of 
pottery  and  Quichua  toys,  made  in  the  neighbor- ,, 


266  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

hood;  market  gardeners  with  corn  and  potatoes; 
and  peddlers  of  every  variety  of  article  imaginable ; 
some  protected  from  the  rain  by  cloth  shelters  that 
look  as  though  they  had  been  taken  from  the  top 
of  a  prairie  schooner  in  the  "days  of  '49";  others 
squatting  on  the  rough  pavement,  their  wares  spread 
out  on  the  skins  of  sheep  or  llamas,  exposed  to 
wind  and  weather. 

The  Plaza  has  had  a  varied  history.  Perhaps  its 
most  tragic  day  was  when  it  witnessed  the  death 
of  Tupac  Amaru.  It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  i8th 
of  May,  1 78 1,  that  the  Inca  was  brought  forth  to 
his  execution  from  the  old  Jesuit  church.  In  order 
to  prevent  a  repetition  of  Indian  uprisings,  such 
as  he  had  started,  the  Spanish  authorities  felt  it 
necessary  to  practice  the  most  diabolical  cruelties 
on  both  him  and  his  wife.  She  was  placed  on  a  lofty 
scaffold,  her  tongue  was  cut  out,  and  an  attempt 
was  made  to  garrote  her  with  an  iron  screw.  When 
it  was  found  that  her  neck  was  so  small  that  she 
could  not  be  strangled  in  this  manner,  the  execu- 
tioners placed  a  lasso  around  her  neck  and  pulled 
and  hauled  until  she  was  dead.  After  witnessing 
the  death  of  his  wife,  the  Inca  was  taken  into  the 
centre  of  the  square,  his  tongue  was  cut  out,  and 
his  body  was  drawn  and  quartered  by  four  horses. 

The  immediate  effect  of  his  revolution  was  to 
cause  laws  to  be  promulgated  prohibiting  the  use 
of  the  native  language,  ordering  the  Indians  to  give 
up  their  national  customs  and  to  destroy  all  their 
musical  instruments.  Fortunately,  these  laws  were 
not  carried  out.     In  fact,   the  Quichua  tongue  is 


SAC 


^'mr:^^M^ 


THE  CATHEDRAL  — THE  J] 


-URCH— THE   I'LAZA-CLZCU 


CUZCO  267 

still  used  to  a  large  extent.  It  was  supposed  by  Sir 
Clements  Markham  and  other  travellers  fifty  years 
ago  that  owing  to  the  constantly  increasing  cor- 
ruption of  the  ancient  dialect  and  the  introduction 
of  Spanish  modes  of  expression,  the  language  of  the 
Incas  would  soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  We  found, 
on  the  contrary,  that  nine  out  of  ten  Indians,  even 
those  who  occupied  stalls  in  the  market-place  of 
the  largest  cities,  either  could  not  or  would  not  con- 
verse in  Spanish.  There  was  usually  an  Indian  in 
the  crowd  who  was  willing  to  act  as  an  interpreter, 
but  the  great  majority  of  the  people  seem  to  have  no 
acquaintance  with  Spanish.  Furthermore,  we  found 
that  the  Spanish-speaking  residents  all  recognize 
the  necessity  of  learning  Quichua. 

The  Prefect  of  Cuzco  put  his  orderly  at  our  dis- 
posal for  the  entire  time  of  our  stay.  He  proved  to 
be  most  useful  and  agreeable.  A  word  from  him 
opened  to  us  the  doors  of  monasteries  and  churches, 
and  his  knowledge  of  prices  enabled  us  to  get  exam- 
ples of  Quichua  handiwork  without  being  obliged  to 
pay  much  more  than  the  regular  price.  In  our  shop- 
ping excursions  whenever  we  began  to  accumulate 
more  Indian  toys  and  trinkets  than  we  could  easily 
carry  in  our  pockets,  the  orderly  would  summon  the 
next  police  officer  and  tell  him  to  act  as  our  porter. 
It  was  rather  hard  to  keep  from  laughing.  Imagine 
a  Broadway  policeman  toddling  up  Murray  Hill 
carrying  bundles  for  a  foreign  delegate  to  a  Scien- 
tific Congress! 

After  my  experience  In  the  La  Paz  jail,  I  was 
curious  to  see  what  that  of  Cuzco  might  be  like. 


268  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Our  obliging  cicerone  willingly  consented  to  show 
all  there  was  to  be  seen.  The  jail  consists  of  an  old- 
fashioned  Spanish  dwelling  built  around  a  large 
courtyard.  Into  this  inclosure  all  classes  of  prison- 
ers are  put  without  any  regard  as  to  whether  they 
are  awaiting  trial  or  condemned  to  life  imprison- 
ment. There  did  not  seem  to  be  any  cells,  and  the 
forty  or  fifty  prisoners  were  enjoying  themselves 
after  the  fashion  of  the  Inmates  of  English  prisons 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  Government's  pro- 
vision for  food  does  not  Include  any  luxuries,  but  it 
is  possible  for  the  prisoners  to  earn  money  and  pur- 
chase what  they  need.  So  far  as  we  could  see,  there 
was  no  forced  labor,  and  the  men  were  thrown 
entirely  on  their  own  resources.  Several  were  busily 
working  at  hand-looms  making  ponchos  which  they 
were  glad  enough  to  sell.  Others  had  cups  carved 
out  of  horns.  One  unfortunate,  who  happened  to  be 
asleep  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  sent  to  the  hotel  a 
gaudily  painted  trinket  with  a  note  saying  that  he 
hoped  we  would  purchase  it  for  a  good  price,  as  he 
was  much  in  need  of  funds.  On  the  whole,  although 
the  building  was  old,  dilapidated,  and  quite  inade- 
quate, according  to  our  ideas,  the  prisoners  seemed 
to  be  having  a  good  time,  and  there  was  no  evidence 
of  cruelty.  The  Quichuas  are  such  a  mild,  inof- 
fensive folk  that  the  jailers  do  not  have  the  same 
Incentive  to  punish  them  severely  as  do  those  in 
La  Paz  who  have  to  deal  with  the  cantankerous 
Aymards. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  historic  plaza,  next  door 
to  the  Jesuit  Church,  is  the  University  of  Cuzco, 


CUZCO  269 

rather  squalid  by  comparison  with  the  church,  but 
containing  some  fine  stone  cloisters.  It  was  founded 
in  1598,  thirty-eight  years  before  Harvard  College. 
I  had  a  very  pleasant  call  on  its  distinguished  Rec- 
tor, a  well-read  lawyer.  The  principal  work  of  the 
University  at  present  consists  of  training  men  for 
the  law.  According  to  the  annual  report  of  the 
Rector,  during  the  year  1907  the  University  con- 
ferred the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Philosophy  and 
Letters  on  four  candidates,  that  of  Bachelor  of 
Jurisprudence  on  two,  Bachelor  of  Political  Science 
on  two,  and  Doctor  of  Jurisprudence  on  four.  There 
are  eighteen  instructors.  They  receive  salaries  of 
$35  a  month,  and  give,  on  the  average,  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  lectures  a  year.  The  Faculty  of 
Letters  has  a  three-year  course  and  thirty-three 
students.  The  Faculty  of  Jurisprudence,  a  five-year 
course  and  forty-six  students.  The  Faculty  of 
Political  Science,  a  three-year  course  and  twenty- 
four  students.  The  Section  of  Natural  Science,  a 
three-year  course  and  nine  students.  The  total 
income  for  the  year  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  $10,000. 
Of  this  the  Government  gives  $5500,  and  the  rest 
is  made  up  largely  of  students'  fees.  One  source  of 
revenue  for  1907  was  $40  in  fines  levied  on  the 
members  of  the  Faculty,  "for  failing  to  attend  their 
classes  and  for  other  acts"! 

The  question  of  the  education  of  South  American 
youth  is  an  interesting  one.  The  opinion  of  the 
majority  of  British  residents  has  been  well  expressed 
by  an  English  mining  engineer  who  has  recently 
published  a  book  on  Peru.  He  says:  "The  Spanish- 


270  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

American  youth  educated  in  the  United  States,  is 
not  a  happy  product.  London  is  the  real  home  for 
the  cosmopoHtan  refinement  suited  to  their  char- 
acter"! 

South  American  institutions  of  learning  are  built 
on  such  different  lines  from  those  in  the  United 
States  that  it  seems  to  me  extremely  unlikely  that 
a  large  number  of  students  from  South  America 
will  ever  come  to  American  universities.  Ought 
we  to  do  anything  to  encourage  more  to  come? 
Spanish-Americans  now  studying  in  the  States  are 
devoting  their  attention  chiefly  to  engineering  and 
dentistry.  Very  few  South  Americans  are  likely  to 
care  for  our  academic  or  collegiate  course  or  any- 
thing corresponding  to  it.  It  does  not  fit  in  at  all 
with  their  customary  scheme  of  education.  To  the 
average  South  American,  a  "college"  means  a  kind 
of  high  school  from  which  a  student  graduates  to 
enter  at  once  upon  his  professional  studies.  At  first 
glance  it  looks  like  the  familiar  German  idea  of  a 
gymnasium  course  followed  immediately  by  pro- 
fessional studies  in  the  university.  But  it  would  be 
unfair  both  to  the  gymnasium  and  the  colegio  to 
place  their  curriculum  in  parallel  columns. 

A  large  number  of  physicians  in  South  America 
claim  to  have  studied  in  Paris.  The  dentists  usually 
advertise  the  fact  that  they  were  educated  in  Phila- 
delphia or  New  York.  Lawyers  rarely  ever  receive 
any  special  training  outside  of  the  local  university. 
On  the  other  hand,  while  a  large  percentage  of  the 
native  civil  engineers  are  trained  in  the  local  engi- 
neering schools,  a  very  considerable  number  have 


CUZCO  271 

studied  abroad.  It  is  a  generally  recognized  fact 
in  South  America,  outside  of  Argentina  and  Chile, 
that  the  best  engineers  are  Americans. 

On  the  whole  I  am  not  disposed  to  agree  with 
those  who  disparage  American  training  for  Latin- 
American  youth.  I  am  Inclined  to  believe  that  it 
increases  their  efficiency  more  than  the  "cosmo- 
politan refinement"  of  London. 


CHAPTER  XX 

SACSAHUAMAN 

TO  defend  Cuzco  from  attack  by  enemies  com- 
ing from  the  north,  the  Incas  built  a  great 
fortress  on  a  hill  overlooking  the  city.  To  reach  it, 
the  easiest  way  is  to  take  a  mule  and  ride  through 
Cuzco's  narrow  streets,  up  the  ravine  to  the  ancient 
gateway  in  the  east  side  of  the  hill.  At  first  sight 
it  might  seem  ridiculous  not  to  walk,  as  the  fortress 
in  only  600  feet  above  the  city.  But  Cuzco  has  an 
elevation  of  11,500  feet,  and  hill-climbing  at  this 
altitude  is  best  done  on  mule-back. 

The  Prefect  kindly  supplied  us  mules  and  an 
escort.  On  our  way  we  passed  the  church  of  Los 
Nazarenes  whose  superstructure  is  laid  on  ancient 
walls  that  are  noteworthy  because  of  the  many 
serpents  that  are  carved  in  relief  on  the  stones. 
Among  the  crude  pottery  dishes  that  I  bought  in 
the  streets  of  La  Paz  was  one  decorated  with  these 
same  little  wriggling  serpents. 

Beyond  Los  Nazarenes  the  street  narrowed  until 
presently  it  became  simply  a  path  in  a  rocky  gorge. 
As  we  entered  the  gorge  there  was  at  first  little  to 
be  seen.  Then  in  its  narrowest  and  most  easily 
defended  part  we  came  suddenly  upon  a  pile  of 
massive  rocks,  roughly  hewn.  Huge  blocks  of  stone, 
five  or  six  feet  high,  slightly  rounded  off  and  accu- 


SACSAHUAMAN  273 

rately  fitted  together,  are  here  built  into  a  gateway- 
twelve  feet  high  that  opens  into  a  passage  defended 
by  a  wall  of  large  boulders.  This  leads  to  the  hilltop. 
On  the  side  toward  the  city,  the  slope  is  nearly 
precipitous,  but  the  approach  was  made  even  more 
difficult  near  the  summit  by  a  series  of  three  ter- 
races each  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  high.  There  is 
nothing  remarkable  about  the  summit  except  the 
beautiful  view  of  Cuzco  which  one  gets  from  here. 

The  immediate  front  of  the  hill  just  below  the 
upper  terraces  is  extremely  steep.  About  halfway 
down  to  the  city  the  spur  broadens  and  flattens  out. 
It  was  there  the  first  Inca  built  his  palace.  On  the 
lower  continuation  of  this  spur,  between  two  rivu- 
lets, the  palaces  and  temples  of  the  later  Incas  were 
built. 

It  is  the  north  side  of  Sacsahuaman,  the  side 
away  from  Cuzco,  that  is  the  chief  object  of  interest. 
Here  the  slope  is  very  gentle  and  it  was  necessary 
to  fortify  the  place  artificially.  Furthermore,  it  was 
on  this  side  that  attacks  might  be  expected,  not 
only  from  the  savages  of  the  Amazonian  wilds,  but 
also  from  the  hostile  tribes  of  the  Andean  plateau, 
including  the  Caras  of  Ecuador.  Accordingly,  here 
the  Incas  exerted  their  utmost  skill  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  powerful  line  of  defence. 

The  fortifications  extend  for  a  third  of  a  mile 
entirely  across  the  back  of  the  hill,  and  are  flanked 
by  steep  valleys  at  each  end.  They  consist  of  three 
lines  of  zigzag  terraces,  one  above  another,  each 
faced  with  walls  of  colossal  boulders,  some  of  them 
twelve  feet  in  diameter.    The  lower  terrace  has  an 


274  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

average  height  of  about  twenty-five  feet;  the  middle 
and  upper  ones  are  some  six  feet  less.  There  are  few 
sights  in  the  world  more  impressive  than  these 
Cyclopean  walls. 

The  Incas  were  accustomed  to  build  great  ter- 
races and  I  have  seen  them  in  many  places  in  Peru. 
In  every  other  case,  however,  the  terrace  walls  are 
straight,  or  nearly  so.  Here,  although  the  walls  are 
parallel,  they  are  also  zigzag  and  consist  for  the 
entire  length  of  salients  and  reentrant  angles.  The 
apex  of  each  salient  in  the  lower  wall  is  usually 
formed  by  a  conspicuously  large  block,  twenty-five 
feet  high  and  ten  or  twelve  feet  thick. 

The  size  and  strength  of  the  walls  and  the  employ- 
ment of  salients  which  enabled  the  defenders  to 
cover  the  entire  face  of  the  fortification  with  a 
flanking  fire,  a  device  unknown  even  to  the  Euro- 
pean Crusaders,  made  the  Inca  fortress  practically 
impregnable.  It  was  certainly  quite  secure  from 
the  assaults  of  any  Indian  assailants,  armed  only 
with  such  primitive  weapons  as  bows  and  arrows, 
slings  and  spears. 

Next  to  the  colossal  size  of  the  stones  which  the 
builders  used  for  the  lower  wall,  the  most  impres- 
sive thing  is  the  care  they  took  to  fit  the  stones 
together  without  cement,  so  that  they  should  stand 
for  ages. 

It  is  said  that  most  of  the  smaller  stones  have 
been  carried  off  for  building  purposes  in  the  city. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  what  remains  is  the  most  impres- 
sive spectacle  of  man's  handiwork  that  I  have  ever 
seen  in  America.    Photographs  absolutely  fail  to 


SACSAHUAMAN  275 

do  it  justice,  for  at  best  they  show  only  a  few  boul- 
ders, a  small  part  of  one  of  the  walls.  If  taken  far 
enough  away  to  show  the  whole  fort,  the  eye  loses 
all  sense  of  the  great  size  of  the  stone  units  owing  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  so  much  larger  than  any 
stones  to  which  it  is  accustomed. 

The  Inca  author,  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  wrote, 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  as  follows  of  Sacsahuaman: 
"This  was  the  greatest  and  most  superb  of  the 
edifices  that  the  Incas  raised  to  demonstrate  their 
majesty  and  power.  Its  greatness  is  incredible  to 
those  who  have  not  seen  it.  .  .  .  It  passes  the  power 
of  imagination  to  conceive  how  so  many  and  so 
great  stones  could  be  so  accurately  fitted  together 
as  scarcely  to  admit  the  insertion  of  the  point  of  a 
knife  between  them.  And  all  of  this  is  the  more 
wonderful  as  they  had  no  squares  or  levels  to  place 
on  the  stones  and  ascertain  if  they  would  fit  to- 
gether. How  often  must  they  have  taken  up  and 
put  down  the  stones  to  ascertain  if  the  joints  were 
perfect!  Nor  had  they  cranes,  or  pulleys,  or  other 
machinery  whatever.  .  .  .  But  what  is  most  mar- 
vellous of  the  edifice  is  the  incredible  size  of  the 
stones,  and  the  astonishing  labor  of  bringing  them 
together  and  placing  them."  Compare  this  with 
what  a  recent  writer  on  the  Caroline  Islands  says, 
in  describing  the  colossal  stone  ruins  on  the  Island 
of  Lele  near  Kusaie:  "Looking  at  their  solid  out- 
lines, seamed  and  furrowed  with  the  rain  and  sun 
of  untold  generations,  one  cannot  help  marvelling 
at  the  ingenuity  and  skill  of  these  primitive  engi- 
neers, in  moving,  lifting,  and  poising  such  huge  and 


276  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

unwieldy  masses  of  rock  Into  their  present  position, 
where  these  mighty  structures,  shadowed  by  great 
forest  trees,  stand  defying  Time's  changing  seasons 
and  the  fury  of  tropic  elements." 

Also  this  from  Captain  Cook's  "Voyages":  "The 
platforms  are  faced  with  hewn  stones  of  a  very 
large  size.  They  used  no  sort  of  cement,  yet  the 
joints  are  exceedingly  close  and  the  stones  mortised 
and  tenoned  one  into  another  in  a  very  artful  man- 
ner and  the  side  walls  were  not  perpendicular  but 
sloping  a  little  inwards."  This  is  an  accurate  de- 
scription of  Sacsahuaman.  Yet  Captain  Cook  never 
came  to  the  highlands  of  Peru  and  probably  never 
even  saw  a  picture  of  these  walls.  In  this  paragraph 
he  is  describing  the  stone  ruins  on  Easter  Island.^ 

The  resemblances  between  the  ruins  of  upper 
Peru  and  those  of  Easter  Island  and  the  Caroline 
Islands  offer  a  remarkably  interesting  field  for 
ethnological  speculation.  Unfortunately  as  yet 
they  have  told  us  but  little  of  the  builders  of 
Sacsahuaman. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  fortress  was 
commenced  in  the  reign  of  the  Inca  Viracocha,  two 
hundred  years  before  the  Spanish  Conquest.  Whe- 
ther this  tradition  is  well  founded,  it  is  difficult  to 
say.  It  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  name 
"Viracocha,"  as  Sir  Clements  Markham  points  out, 

1  In  Paymaster  Thompson's  report  of  his  visit  to  Easter  Island,  he 
gives  drawings  and  photographs  of  walls  that  bear  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  Sacsahuaman.  There  is  the  same  peculiar  close  fitting  of 
one  stone  to  another,  the  same  striking  size  of  the  stones  and  lack  of 
cement  in  the  joints.  See  also  Cook's  Voyage  Around  the  World  in 
1772-1775,  London,  1777. 


SACSAHUAMAN  277 

was  simply  the  term  applied  to  a  powerful  char- 
acter, a  term  of  admiration,  equivalent  to  the  word 
"gentleman"  in  English. 

Whoever  built  it,  the  task  was  certainly  heroic. 
Many  of  the  stones  were  undoubtedly  quarried 
near  by.  As  for  methods  of  transportation,  we  know 
that  the  Incas  understood  the  manufacture  of 
strong  cables,  for  they  built  suspension  bridges 
across  many  of  the  chasms  of  central  Peru.  By  the 
aid  of  these  cables  and  of  wooden  rollers,  it  would 
have  been  entirely  possible  to  have  dragged  very 
large  stones  for  a  considerable  distance,  up  inclined 
planes.  Although  they  had  no  draft  animals, 
llamas  being  only  accustomed  to  carrying,  they  had 
thousands  of  patient  Quichuas  at  their  disposal, 
whose  combined  efforts,  extended  over  long  lines 
of  cables,  would  have  been  amply  sufficient  to  move 
even  the  largest  of  these  great  blocks.  Nevertheless, 
when  one  considers  the  difficulty  of  fitting  together 
two  irregular  boulders,  both  of  them  weighing  eight 
or  ten  tons,  one's  admiration  for  the  skill  of  these  old 
builders  knows  no  bounds. 

The  modern  Peruvians  are  very  fond  of  speculat- 
ing as  to  the  method  which  the  Incas  employed  to 
make  their  stones  fit  so  perfectly.  One  of  the  favor- 
ite stories  is  that  the  Incas  knew  of  a  plant  whose 
juices  rendered  the  surface  of  a  block  so  soft  that 
the  marvellous  fitting  was  accomplished  by  rubbing 
the  stones  together  for  a  few  moments  with  this 
magical  plant  juice! 

Discussion  and  speculation  will  undoubtedly  con- 
tinue indefinitely,  yet  one  can  come  to  at  least  two 


278  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

conclusions:  the  Incas  had  an  unHmited  amount  of 
labor  at  their  disposal,  and  time  was  no  object. 

Futhermore,  they  were  apparently  very  fond  of 
playing  the  game  of  stone-cutting.  From  the  for- 
tress we  rode  across  the  little  grassy  plain  that 
separates  the  terraces  from  the  rocks  of  Rodadero 
hill.  On  its  summit,  terraces  have  been  hewn  out 
of  the  solid  rock,  and  it  is  said  that  the  Incas  were 
fond  of  sitting  here  to  watch  their  patient  workmen 
engaged  in  putting  together  the  magnificent  walls 
of  Sacsahuaman.  On  the  north  side  of  the  hill,  the 
rock  has  been  worn  into  grooves  by  the  water  and 
polished  by  the  ponchos  of  generations  of  pleasure- 
seekers  who  have  used  this  curious  formation  as  a 
"toboggan  slide."  Our  guides  assured  us  that  the 
habit  of  coasting  down  this  hill  on  ponchos  was 
started  by  the  Incas.  At  all  events,  it  is  still  a 
favorite  Sunday  amusement. 

In  the  rolling  country  north  of  the  Rodadero  are 
numbers  of  rocks  and  ledges  that  have  been  carved 
into  fantastic  seats,  nooks,  and  crannies  by  a  people 
who  seem  to  have  taken  a  keen  delight  in  stone- 
carving  for  its  own  sake.  It  is  difficult  to  explain  in 
any  other  way  the  maze  of  niches  and  shelves,  seats 
and  pedestals  that  are  scattered  about  on  every 
hand.  Writers  are  accustomed  to  label  as  "Inca 
thrones"  every  stone  seat  they  find  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Peru.  But  here  the  ledges  are  car\^ed  so 
irregularly  as  almost  to  bewilder  the  imagination. 

A  mile  away  to  the  northeast  we  discovered  the 
dim  outlines  of  a  large  amphitheatre  where  the 
Incas  may  have  gathered  on  the  grassy  slopes  to 


SACSAHUAMAN  279 

watch  games  and  religious  festivals.  It  offers  an 
attractive  field  for  digging,  as  it  seems  to  have  been 
entirely  overlooked  hitherto. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  city  we  were  invited  to 
rest  at  Sr.  Lomellini's  country  house  which  is  built 
in  the  gardens  of  Manco  Capac,  the  first  Inca.  The 
entrance  is  through  a  gate  in  the  wall  of  the  ancient 
outer  terrace.  Near  the  house  stands  a  section  of 
the  palace  wall,  thirty  feet  long  and  ten  feet  high, 
containing  a  recessed  door  and  window.  In  the  outer 
terrace  the  stones  are  of  irregular  shapes  while  in 
this  wall  they  are  practically  rectangular.  In  his 
house,  Sr.  Lomellini  has  collected  a  number  of 
extremely  interesting  specimens  of  the  ceramic  art 
of  the  Incas.  The  most  striking  are  two  very  large 
vases  resembling  in  shape  and  marking  the  small 
one  figured  here.  This  is  only  six  inches  high ;  those 
are  nearly  three  feet.  There  are  quite  a  number  of 
imperfect  specimens  in  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  History. 

After  the  gardener  had  given  us  a  handful  of 
roses,  we  left  the  precincts  of  the  ancient  Inca  and 
clattered  down  the  hill  over  the  rough  cobblestones 
to  the  picturesque  sights  —  and  distressing  smells  — 
of  modern  Cuzco. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   INCA   ROAD   TO   ABANCAY 

THERE  are  several  ways  of  going  from  Cuzco  to 
Lima.  The  easiest  and  most  frequented  now 
is  by  rail  to  Mollendo  and  then  by  steamer  to  Callao, 
the  seaport  of  Lima.  Before  the  days  of  rail- 
roads the  common  route  was  by  mule  via  Aya- 
cucho,  Pisco,  and  the  Coast.  Since  the  building  of 
the  Oroya  railroad  and  more  particularly  since  the 
extension  of  the  line  south  to  Huancayo,  instead 
of  going  west  to  the  coast  from  Ayacucho  the  over- 
land traveller  continues  north  to  the  Jauja  valley 
until  he  meets  the  railway.  It  was  this  road  that 
we  proposed  to  take. 

For  centuries  the  overland  trail  from  Cuzco  to 
Huancayo  and  the  north  was  the  most  celebrated 
highway  in  Peru.  The  Incas  used  it  in  their  con- 
quests and  improved  it.  When  Atahualpa  fell  into 
the  clutches  of  Pizarro,  the  largest  part  of  his  golden 
ransom  was  brought  over  this  road.  After  the  death 
of  the  Inca,  Pizarro  in  his  march  on  Cuzco  found 
this  road  most  convenient  for  his  little  cavalcade. 
During  the  civil  wars  that  followed  the  conquest 
this  highway  was  repeatedly  the  scene  of  action. 
For  three  hundred  years  it  was  replete  with  historic 
incident.  Finally,  the  road  that  had  seen  the  begin- 
nings of  Spain's  conquest,  was  destined  to  see  the 


THE  INCA  ROAD  TO  ABANCAY  281 

bitter  end.  For,  in  1824,  it  witnessed  the  last  cam- 
paign, the  final  act  in  the  drama  of  Spain's  Colonial 
Empire,  when  La  Serna,  last  viceroy  of  Peru,  was 
defeated  by  the  patriot  forces  under  General  Sucre 
in  the  battle  of  Ayacucho. 

In  journeying  over  the  three  hundred  miles  of 
this  historic  highway,  I  should  have  preferred  to 
have  hired  mules  for  the  whole  trip,  but  nobody  was 
willing  to  undertake  the  contract.  We  were  told 
that  "in  the  good  old  times"  before  the  railway 
came  to  Cuzco,  it  was  very  easy  to  hire  mules;  and 
arrieros  were  willing  enough  to  go  anywhere,  but 
now  there  was  so  little  demand  for  this  sort  of  thing 
that  the  supply  had  stopped.  The  best  we  could  do 
was  to  get  an  arriero  to  take  us  to  Abancay,  the 
capital  of  the  next  Department. 

Two  American  civil  engineers  whom  I  had  met 
in  Arequipa  had  told  me  that  the  journey  from 
Cuzco  to  Huancayo  would  be  full  of  trouble  and 
countless  dif^culties,  as  a  large  part  of  the  region 
was  uninhabited!  They  said  that  if  it  were  possible 
to  buy  a  tent  in  Cuzco,  to  do  so,  by  all  means,  as  we 
should  otherwise  be  obliged  to  spend  many  nights 
in  the  open,  exposed  to  rain  and  snow.  They  had 
not  been  over  the  road  but  had  lived  for  months  in 
Cuzco  and  had  "heard  all  about  it."  I  mention  this 
merely  as  an  instance  of  the  difificulty  of  finding  out 
the  truth  about  South  America  by  hearsay. 

We  now  learned  from  those  who  had  actually  been 
over  the  road  that  while  there  were  no  inns  to  be 
encountered  anywhere  except  in  Ayacucho,  it  would 
be  only  owing  to  extremely  bad  luck  if  we  failed  to 


282  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

reach  the  shelter  of  a  village  every  night.  Accord- 
ingly we  contented  ourselves  with  a  few  canned 
goods  and  kitchen  utensils  and  found  them  to  be  all 
that  was  necessary. 

In  the  Peruvian  highlands  the  rains  commence  in 
November  and  continue  until  the  end  of  March. 
February  is  supposed  to  be  the  worst  of  all.  During 
that  month  the  discomfort  of  travelling  over  the 
bridle-paths  of  the  Andes  is  so  great  that  the  natives 
never  undertake  a  journey  for  pleasure  and  stay  at 
home  as  much  as  possible.  Yet  it  was  February 
that  we  had  chosen  for  our  march.  It  was  "Hob- 
son's  choice,"  but  I  was  not  sorry.  Several  travel- 
lers have  given  a  picture  of  the  region  as  it  appears 
in  the  dry  season  when  the  roads  are  comparatively 
good.  We  were  to  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
what  they  could  be  like  in  the  worst  of  the  rainy 
season,  and  we  were  further  favored  by  the  fact 
that  this  particular  February  turned  out  to  be  "the 
rainiest  month  of  the  rainiest  season  that  any  one 
remembered  to  have  experienced  in  Peru  for  at 
least  twenty- five  years."  In  a  word,  we  were  to  see 
the  mountain  trails  at  their  worst. 

We  left  Cuzco  on  the  morning  of  the  first  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1909.  The  day  promised  ill.  Rain  fell  in 
torrents.  The  preceding  day  we  had  received  calls 
from  a  number  of  local  dignitaries,  all  of  whom 
assured  us  that  they  would  be  on  hand  in  the  morn- 
ing to  escort  us  out  of  town.  But  the  continuous 
downpour  overcame  their  conscientious  scruples. 
Even  the  Prefect's  polite  orderly,  who  had  been 
unremitting  in  his  attention,  was  glad  enough  to 


THE  INCA  ROAD  TO  ABANCAY  283 

take  our  hint  that  we  were  sufficiently  honored  by 
his  accompanying  us  for  three  blocks  from  the  hotel. 

The  Prefect  had  been  very  solicitous  about  our 
welfare  and,  although  we  assured  him  that  we  pre- 
ferred to  travel  without  a  military  escort,  he  in- 
sisted that  a  sergeant  and  at  least  one  soldier  should 
accompany  us  as  long  as  we  were  in  his  Department. 
I  never  discovered  why  he  was  so  insistent.  There 
was  no  danger,  and  highway  robbery  is  unheard  of 
in  Peru.  Possibly  he  was  afraid  that  the  delegados 
might  otherwise  go  hungry  at  villages  where  inhos- 
pitable, half-starved  Quichuas  would  say  that  there 
was  no  food  to  be  had;  or  he  may  have  thought  it 
undignified  for  us  to  travel  without  an  escort.  What- 
ever his  reasons,  he  meant  well  and  it  was  not  a  case 
of  graft,  for  the  soldiers  were  ordered  to  accompany 
us  at  the  expense  of  the  government. 

We  started  off  in  a  northwesterly  direction,  leav- 
ing Sacsahuaman  on  the  right.  After  climbing  out 
of  the  Cuzco  valley  we  descended  gradually  to  the 
great  plain  of  Anta,  famous  as  the  scene  of  numerous 
battles  in  the  wars  of  the  Incas.  We  crossed  it  by 
the  ancient  Inca  road,  a  stony  pathway  five  or  six 
feet  wide,  with  ditches  and  swamps  on  either  side. 
The  Peruvians  have  allowed  it  to  fall  into  decay,  and 
for  a  good  part  of  the  distance  it  has  disappeared. 
At  noon  we  reached  Puquiura,  a  village  with  a 
plaza  very  like  that  of  Tiahuanaco.  At  half  past 
three,  after  making  a  long  detour  in  order  to  avoid 
the  swamps  and  ponds  that  in  the  wet  season  cover 
the  direct  road,  we  crossed  a  little  stone  bridge  and 
rode  into  the  dismal  plaza  of  the  old  Indian  town  of 


284  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Huarocondo.  This  is  only  a  few  miles  from  Uru- 
bamba,  and  the  remarkably  interesting  ruins  of 
Ollantaytambo,  which  have  been  so  graphically 
described  by  Squier. 

Unfortunately  we  had  no  time  to  visit  them  and 
took  instead  the  road  to  the  southwest.  Skirting 
the  hills  north  of  the  plain  of  Anta,  we  passed  several 
great  terraces  a  third  of  a  mile  long  and  fourteen 
or  fifteen  feet  high,  and  towards  evening  entered 
Zurita,  a  small  Indian  town.  Here  we  were  directed 
to  the  house  of  a  hospitable  Gobernador  where  we 
found  that  two  Peruvian  travellers  had  preceded  us. 

As  in  other  houses  of  the  better  class  in  this  vicin- 
ity, the  entrance  was  through  a  large  gate  into  a 
courtyard.  Opposite  the  gate  was  a  two-story 
building  with  a  balcony  running  the  length  of  the 
second  floor.  On  another  side  of  the  court  were 
smaller  structures  one  of  which  had  a  wide  stone 
verandah  where  the  arrieros  and  the  soldiers  piled 
up  the  saddles  and  bags  and  spread  their  blankets 
for  the  night.  Two  unfortunate  parrots,  cold,  sickly, 
and  bedraggled,  had  their  perches  attached  to  the 
posts  of  the  verandah. 

An  hour  after  our  arrival,  four  Indian  alcaldes  and 
tenienfes  carrying  silver-tipped  canes  as  symbols 
of  office,  presented  themselves  in  the  courtyard  in 
answer  to  the  summons  of  the  Gobernador.  When 
that  official  appeared  on  the  balcony,  they  humbly 
removed  their  hats  and  stood  in  silence  while  he 
told  them  how  many  bundles  of  fresh  barley  straw 
to  bring  for  our  mules.  An  hour  later  they  returned 
with  other  Indians  who,  acting  under  their  orders, 


THE  INCA  ROAD  TO  ABANCAY  285 

brought  the  cehada.  The  conversation  was  carried 
on  in  Quichua,  which  we  were  unable  to  follow, 
but  the  Gobernador  said  that  for  the  fodder  the 
alcaldes  wanted  one  sol,  a  Peruvian  silver  dollar 
worth  forty-eight  cents.  This  we  cheerfully  gave 
him,  whereupon,  in  a  most  unabashed  manner,  he 
put  the  sol  in  his  pocket,  took  out  a  few  small  coins 
worth  about  half  a  sol  and  threw  them  down  into 
the  courtyard  where  they  were  gratefully  picked  up 
by  the  alcaldes. 

We  left  Zurita  the  next  morning,  accompanied 
by  the  Gobernador  and  our  fellow  lodgers.  They 
were  all  well-mounted  on  excellent  horses.  The 
horsemen  of  this  vicinity  affect  a  bit  of  harness  that 
seems  to  be  a  relic  of  the  trappings  of  Spanish  war 
horses.  The  crupper  is  covered  with  a  V-shaped 
piece  of  solid  leather  elaborately  stamped  and 
marked.  From  it  hang  hip  straps  supporting  very 
loose  breeching  that  dangles  almost  to  the  points 
of  the  hocks  and  actually  rests  on  the  ham  strings. 
Although  it  is  of  no  use  whatever,  and  in  fact,  actu- 
ally impedes  the  horse's  action,  the  effect  is  rather 
picturesque. 

Leaving  the  arriero  and  his  pack  mules  to  follow 
in  charge  of  our  military  escort,  we  pushed  on  at  a 
good  pace  with  our  friends  and  found  ourselves  at 
noon  at  Challabamba  on  the  divide  that  separates 
the  waters  of  the  river  Urubamba  from  those  of  the 
Apurimac.  In  marked  distinction  to  the  grassy, 
treeless  plain  of  Anta  from  which  we  had  just 
ascended,  we  saw  before  us  deep  green,  wooded 
valleys. 


286  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

The  trail,  a  rocky  stairway  not  unlike  the  bed  of  a 
mountain  torrent,  led  us  rapidly  into  a  warm  trop- 
ical region  whose  dense  foliage  and  tangled  vines 
were  grateful  enough  after  the  bleak  mountain 
plateau.  Beautiful  yellow  broom  flowers  were 
abundant.  The  air  was  filled  with  the  fragrance 
of  heliotrope.  Parti-colored  Ian  tanas  ran  riot  through 
a  maze  of  agaves  and  hanging  creepers.  We  had 
entered  a  new  world. 

A  steep  descent  brought  us  to  the  town  of  Lima- 
tambo  where  there  are  interesting  terraces  and  other 
evidences  of  an  Inca  fortress.  The  valley  of  the 
Limatambo  River  is  here  extremely  narrow  and  the 
fortifications  were  well  placed  to  defend  an  enemy 
coming  against  Cuzco  from  the  west  and  north. 

Rain  had  been  falling  most  of  the  day  and  the 
river  Limatambo  had  risen  considerably.  The  ford 
was  quite  impassable,  and  we  were  obliged  to  use  a 
frail  improvised  bridge  over  which  our  mules  crept 
very  cautiously  sniffing  doubtfully  as  it  bent  under 
their  weight.  Soon  afterwards  we  crossed  the  river 
Blanco  and  left  the  old  trail,  which  goes  through 
the  Indian  village  of  Mollepata,  described  by 
Squier  as  "a  collection  of  wretched  huts  on  a  high 
shelf  of  the  mountain  with  a  tumbled-down  church, 
a  drunken  Governor  who  was  also  keeper  of  a  hovel 
which  was  called  the  post-house,  and  a  priest  as 
dissolute  as  the  Governor  ...  a  place  unsurpassed 
in  evil  repute  by  any  in  Peru."  Fortunately  for  us, 
since  the  days  of  Squier's  visit,  an  enterprising 
Peruvian  has  carved  a  sugar  plantation  out  of  the 
luxuriant    growth    on    the   mountain   side,    at   La 


THE  INCA  ROAD  TO  ABANCAY  287 

Estrella.  Here  we  were  given  an  extremely  cordial 
welcome  although  Sr.  Montes,  the  owner,  —  the 
fame  of  whose  hospitality  had  reached  even  to 
Cuzco,  —  was  not  at  home.  Our  military  escort  did 
not  arrive  until  nearly  three  hours  later,  with  a  sad 
story  of  wretched  animals  and  narrow  escapes. 

We  were  considerably  surprised  to  find  here  at  La 
Estrella  an  excellent  piano  in  fairly  good  tune.  It 
had  been  brought  from  Cuzco  on  the  shoulders  of 
Quichua  bearers.  This  seems  extraordinary  enough, 
but  before  the  days  of  the  railroad,  pianos  were 
formerly  carried  by  Indians  all  the  way  from  the 
Pacific  Coast  to  Cuzco.  The  next  time  I  saw  five 
stalwart  Irish  truckmen  groaning  and  shaking  under 
the  weight  of  an  upright  piano  which  they  had  to 
carry  fifty  feet  from  the  truck  into  a  house  in  New 
Haven,  I  wondered  what  they  would  think  of  half- 
starved  Indians  who  could  carry  it  from  sea-level 
over  mountains  fourteen  thousand  feet  high. 

The  presence  of  the  piano  at  La  Estrella  meant 
that  here  as  everywhere  else  we  were  to  be  favored 
with  the  strains  of  the  "Tonquinoise"  and  "Quand 
L'Amour  Meurt."  This  is  the  kind  of  music  that 
most  appeals  to  the  South  Americans.  Wherever 
there  was  a  piano  in  the  heart  of  Peru  or  Bolivia, 
it  mattered  not  whether  the  place  was  Potosi  or 
Arequipa,  these  tunes  were  everlastingly  drummed 
into  our  ears. 

The  next  morning  we  descended  from  the  cane- 
fields  of  La  Estrella  by  an  extremely  precipitous 
winding  trail.  In  places  it  seemed  as  though  our 
heavily-laden  mules  must  surely  loose  their  footing 


288  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

and  roll  down  the  fifteen  hundred  feet  to  the  raging 
Apurimac  River  below.  At  length,  however,  we  came 
to  an  excellent  modern  bridge  which  we  were  actu- 
ally able  to  cross  without  dismounting,  something 
that  rarely  happens  with  the  bridges  of  Peru. 

In  the  old  days  a  wonderfully  lofty  suspension 
bridge  made  by  the  Indians  in  the  Peruvian  fashion, 
was  the  only  means  of  crossing  this  river.  Vivid 
pictures  of  it,  no  two  alike,  are  given  in  Squier's 
"Peru,"  Markham's  "Cuzco  and  Lima,"  and  Lt. 
Gibbon's  "Exploration  of  the  Valley  of  the  Ama- 
zon." Although  they  all  differ  as  to  its  height  above 
the  water  and  its  length,  all  were  greatly  impressed 
by  the  remarkable  cafion  that  it  crossed.  Gibbon 
says  "the  bridge  was  ...  150  feet  above  the  dark 
green  waters";  Sir  Clements  Markham,  who  crossed 
the  bridge  two  years  later  says,  "  the  bridge  spanned 
the  chasm  in  a  graceful  curve  at  a  height  of  full 
300  feet  above  the  river."  As  he  crossed  it  in  the 
middle  of  March  just  at  the  end  of  the  rainy  season 
when  it  may  be  supposed  the  waters  were  high, 
while  Lt.  Gibbon  crossed  it  in  August,  the  middle 
of  the  dry  season,  when  the  river  is  very  low,  the 
contrast  between  their  estimates  of  the  height  of 
the  bridge  above  the  river  is  all  the  more  striking. 
Unfortunately  it  has  disappeared  and  travellers  can 
no  longer  dispute  over  its  dimensions. 

The  scenery  to-day  was  superb;  the  great  green 
mountains  piling  up  on  one  another,  their  precip- 
itous sides  streaked  with  many  lovely  waterfalls. 
Green  parrots  overhead  and  yellow  iris  underfoot 
lent  additional  color  to  the  scene.  To  add  to  our  joy 


THE  INCA  ROAD  TO  ABANCAY  289 

the  sun  shone  all  day  long.  A  comparatively  easy 
journey  over  steep  but  well-travelled  mountain- 
trails  brought  us  to  the  town  of  Curahuasi  where  we 
were  met  by  Lt.  Caceres,  who  had  been  directed  to 
act  as  our  escort,  and  who  proved  to  be  a  most 
genial  and  exceptionally  spirited  young  Peruvian, 
a  member  of  an  old  and  distinguished  family. 

Immediately  on  our  arrival  at  Curahuasi  we  were 
taken  to  the  local  telegraph  office  where  Caceres 
sent  off  an  important  message  announcing  the  ap- 
proach of  the  "distinguished  visitors"!  To  recom- 
pense us  for  waiting  while  he  wrote  the  messages, 
bottles  of  stout  were  opened  and  toasts  solemnly 
proposed.  We  expected  to  spend  the  night  in  the 
town,  but  found  that  the  Gobernador,  who  desired 
us  to  be  his  guests,  lived  a  couple  of  miles  up  the 
valley  at  Trancapata  on  the  road  to  Abancay. 

Although  his  establishment  was  a  primitive  one, 
it  was  charmingly  situated  on  the  edge  of  a  deep 
ravine.  The  dining-room  was  an  old  verandah  over- 
looking the  gorge,  and  we  enjoyed  the  view  and  the 
generous  hospitality  quite  as  much  as  though  the 
villa  had  had  all  modern  conveniences.  In  fact, 
neither  of  us  had  ever  before  experienced  such  a 
cordial  welcome  from  a  total  stranger.  We  were  to 
learn,  however,  before  we  left  the  Department,  that 
such  friendliness  was  characteristic  of  nearly  every 
village  and  town  that  enjoyed  the  over-lordship  of 
the  genial  Prefect  of  Apurimac. 

The  next  morning  when  we  finally  managed  to 
bid  our  cordial  host  good-by,  It  was  not  until  he 
had  accompanied  us  for  a  long  distance  up  the  deep 


290  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

valley.  As  we  climbed  the  ascent  under  a  bright 
sun,  a  wonderful  panorama  spread  itself  out  behind 
us,  the  snowy  peaks  of  Mt.  Sargantay  gleaming  in 
the  distance.  We  soon  left  the  region  of  luxurious 
vegetation,  lantanas,  cacti,  and  tropical  plants,  and 
ran  into  a  chilly  drizzle  at  an  elevation  of  thirteen 
thousand  feet.  Then  we  descended,  came  out  of 
the  rain,  and  had  a  delightful  ride  over  a  trail  lined 
with  masses  of  blue  salvia  and  pink  begonias. 

At  last  we  caught  glimpses  of  the  fields  of  sugar- 
cane that  have  made  Abancay  famous  throughout 
Peru.  To  one  who  has  seen  the  broad  canefields 
of  Hawaii  or  the  great  plantations  of  Cuba  and  Porto 
Rico,  the  fame  of  this  rather  small  district  would 
be  surprising.  But  after  passing  over  the  bleak 
highlands  of  Peru  and  experiencing  the  chill  of  the 
mountain  climate,  one  feels  more  ready  to  appre- 
ciate that  a  warm,  rich  valley,  eight  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea,  where  sugar  can  be  easily  raised,  is  a 
matter  for  profound  congratulation. 

A  long  descent  down  a  very  bad  road  brought  us 
into  a  charming  region.  A  mile  from  Abancay  itself 
we  were  met  by  the  sub-Prefect  and  a  dozen  sugar 
planters  and  caballeros  who  had  taken  the  trouble 
to  saddle  their  horses  and  come  out  to  give  us  a 
fitting  welcome.  After  an  interchange  of  felicita- 
tions, we  clattered  gayly  into  town  and  were  taken 
at  once  to  the  Prefecture.  Here  Hon.  J.  J.  Nufies, 
the  genial  Prefect,  gave  us  a  cordial  reception  and 
apologized  for  the  fact  that  he  had  quite  a  large 
family  and  could  not  give  us  suitable  sleeping 
quarters  in  the  Prefecture.    As  it  was,  he  placed 


THE  INCA  ROAD  TO  ABANCAY  291 

the  local  club  entirely  at  our  disposal.  We  were 
only  too  glad  to  accept,  for  the  club's  two  pleasant 
rooms  overlooked  the  little  plaza  and  commanded 
a  very  pretty  view  of  the  ancient  church  and  steep 
hills  beyond. 

Hardly  had  we  had  time  to  turn  around  in  our 
new  quarters  before  the  Prefect  came  to  make  a 
formal  call.  He  at  once  broached  the  subject  of 
the  ruins  of  Choqquequirau  and  begged  us  to  visit 
them. 

It  seems  that  in  Quichua,  the  language  of  the 
Incas,  still  spoken  by  a  majority  of  the  mountain- 
eers of  Peru,  Choqquequirau  means  a  "Cradle  of 
Gold."  Attracted  by  this  romantic  name  and  by 
the  lack  of  all  positive  knowledge  concerning  its 
last  defenders,  several  attempts  had  been  made 
during  the  past  century  to  explore  its  ruins  and  to 
discover  the  treasure  which  it  is  supposed  the  Incas 
hid  here  instead  of  allowing  it  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  Pizarro  with  the  ransom  of  Atahualpa.  Owing  to 
the  very  great  difficulty  of  reaching  the  site  of  the 
ruins  a  tradition  had  grown  up  that  the  Incas  built 
a  great  city  that  once  contained  over  fifteen  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  high  up  on  the  mountain-side, 
six  thousand  feet  above  the  river  Apurimac.  That 
the  tradition  had  a  basis  of  fact  had  been  demon- 
strated occasionally  by  bold  mountain-climbers  who 
succeeded  in  reaching  a  part  of  the  ruins. 

We  were  told  that  the  first  man  to  reach  there 
went  and  came  alone.  All  he  saw  was  a  stone  wall 
which  he  reached  late  in  the  afternoon,  exhausted 
and  without  food.    He  slept  in  its  shelter,  left  his 


292  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

gun  as  proof  that  he  had  been  there,  and  came  away- 
early  the  next  morning,  anxious  only  to  get  home.  A 
generation  later  a  small  party  of  adventurers  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  ruins  with  enough  food  to 
last  them  for  two  days.  They  excavated  two  or 
three  holes  in  a  vain  effort  to  find  buried  treasure 
and  returned  with  a  tale  of  sufferings  that  kept  any 
one  from  following  their  example  for  twenty  years. 
They  brought  back  reports  of  rocky  "palaces, 
paved  squares,  temples,  prisons,  and  baths,"  all 
crumbling  away  beneath  luxuriant  tropical  vegeta- 
tion. Then  a  local  magistrate,  dreaming  of  untold 
riches,  so  ran  the  tale,  endeavored  to  construct  a 
path  by  which  it  might  be  possible  to  reach  Choq- 
quequirau  and  to  maintain  a  transportation  ser- 
vice of  Indian  carriers  who  could  provide  workmen 
with  food  while  they  were  engaged  in  making  a  sys- 
tematic effort  to  unearth  the  "Cradle  of  Gold." 
This  man  had  at  his  disposal  the  services  of  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  and  a  large  number  of  Indians,  and 
it  is  said  that  he  expended  a  large  amount  of  time 
and  money  in  his  quest.  He  succeeded  in  reaching 
the  top  of  the  ridge  12,000  feet  above  the  river  and 
6000  feet  above  Choqquequirau,  but  was  unable 
to  scale  the  precipices  that  surround  the  ruins,  and 
all  his  labor  came  to  nought.  Others  tried  to  utilize 
the  path  that  he  had  made,  but  without  success, 
until  the  present  Prefect  of  the  department  of  Apu- 
rimac,  Honorable  J.  J.  Nufies,  assumed  ofifice  and 
became  interested  in  the  local  traditions.  Under  his 
patronage,  a  company  of  treasure-seekers  was  formed 
and  several  thousand  dollars  subscribed. 


THE  INCA  ROAD  TO  ABANCAY  293 

The  first  difficulty  that  they  encountered  was  the 
construction  of  a  bridge  over  the  frightful  rapids 
of  the  Apurimac.  All  efforts  failed.  Not  a  Peruvian 
could  be  found  willing  to  venture  his  life  in  the  whirl- 
pool rapids.  Finally  "Don  Mariano,"  an  aged 
Chinese  peddler,  who  had  braved  the  terrors  of  the 
Peruvian  mountains  for  thirty  years,  dared  to  swim 
the  river  with  a  string  tied  to  his  waist.  Then  after 
much  patient  effort  he  succeeded  in  securing  six 
strands  of  telegraph  wire  from  which  he  hung  short 
lengths  of  fibre  rope  and  wove  a  mat  of  reeds  two 
feet  wide  to  serve  as  a  foot  path  for  a  frail  suspen- 
sion bridge.  Once  on  the  other  side,  the  company 
was  able  to  use  a  part  of  the  trail  made  twenty 
years  ago,  but  even  with  that  aid  it  took  three 
months  of  hard  work  to  surmount  the  difficulties 
that  lay  between  the  river  and  Choqquequirau. 
Cheered  on  by  the  enthusiastic  Prefect  and  his 
aide,  Lieut.  Caceres,  an  exceptionally  bold  officer, 
the  task  which  had  defied  all  comers  for  four  hun- 
dred years  was  accomplished.  A  trail  that  could 
be  used  by  Indian  bearers  was  constructed  through 
twelve  miles  of  mountain  forest,  over  torrents  and 
precipices,  and  across  ravines  from  the  river  to  the 
ruins. 

With  these  and  similar  stories  we  were  regaled 
by  one  and  another  of  the  local  antiquarians,  in- 
cluding the  president  of  the  treasure  company  and 
our  friend  the  Prefect. 

We  felt  at  first  as  though  we  could  not  possibly 
spare  the  week  which  would  be  necessary  for  a 
visit  that  would  be  worth  while.    Furthermore  we 


294  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

were  not  on  the  lookout  for  new  Inca  ruins  and  had 
never  heard  of  Choqquequirau.  But  the  enthusi- 
asm of  the  Prefect  and  his  friends  was  too  much 
for  us.  The  Prefect  held  it  out  as  an  extra  induce- 
ment that  no  foreigners  had  ever  visited  Choqque- 
quirau, a  statement  that  I  later  found  to  be  incor- 
rect. Finally  he  said  that  President  Leguia  of  Peru, 
knowing  that  we  were  to  pass  this  way,  had  re- 
quested the  company  to  suspend  operations  until 
we  had  had  a  chance  to  see  the  ruins  in  their  original 
condition.  In  short  so  urgent  were  the  Prefect's 
arguments,  and  so  ready  was  he  to  make  it  easy  for 
us,  that  we  finally  consented  to  go  and  see  what  his 
energy  had  uncovered. 

That  night  he  gave  us  an  elaborate  banquet  to 
which  he  had  invited  fifteen  of  the  local  notables. 
After  dinner  we  were  shown  the  objects  of  interest 
that  had  been  found  at  Choqquequirau,  including 
several  ancient  shawl-pins  and  a  few  nondescript 
metallic  articles.  The  most  interesting  was  a  heavy 
club  fifteen  inches  long  and  rather  more  than  two 
inches  in  diameter,  square,  with  round  corners,  much 
like  the  wooden  clubs  with  which  the  Hawaiians 
beat  tapa.  It  has  a  yellowish  tinge  that  gave  rise  to 
a  story  that^  it  was  pure  gold.  Unfortunately  we 
had  no  means  of  analyzing  it,  but  I  presume  it  was 
made,  like  the  ancient  Inca  axes,  of  copper  hardened 
with  tin. 

The  next  afternoon,  amidst  a  heterogeneous  mess 
of  canned  provisions,  saddles,  rugs,  and  clothes,  we 
packed,  and  received  distinguished  guests.  Almost 
everyone  who  called  told  us  that  he  was  going  to 


THE  INCA  ROAD  TO  ABANCAY  295 

accompany  us  on  the  morrow,  and  we  had  visions 
of  a  general  hegira  from  Abancay. 

In  the  evening  we  were  most  hospitably  enter- 
tained at  one  of  the  sugar  estates.  To  this  dinner  a 
genial  gathering  came  from  far  and  near.  The  plant- 
ers of  Abancay  are  a  fine  class  of  caballeros,  hospit- 
able, courteous,  and  intelligent,  kind  to  their  work- 
ing people,  interested  both  in  one  another's  affairs 
and  in  the  news  of  the  outside  world.  Many  of  them 
spend  part  of  each  year  or  two  in  Lima,  and  a  few 
have  travelled  abroad. 

One  of  our  hosts  had  recently  made  an  excursion 
to  Choqquequirau,  which  "nearly  killed  him."  He 
lost  one  mule:  it  slid  down  a  precipice.  He  lamed 
another  badly.  On  the  whole,  although  urged  to 
do  so  by  his  friends,  he  decided  not  to  offer  to  go 
with  us  on  the  morrow.  At  least  one  man  proposed 
to  stay  in  Abancay! 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE   CLIMB   TO   CHOQQUEQUIRAU 

rT"\HE  next  morning,  accompanied  by  a  large 
J.  cavalcade,  we  started  for  Choqquequirau. 
Most  of  our  escort  contented  themselves  with  a 
mile  or  so,  and  then  wishing  us  good  luck,  returned 
to  Abancay.  We  did  not  blame  them.  Owing  to 
unusually  heavy  rains,  the  trail  was  in  a  frightful 
state.  Well-nigh  impassable  bogs,  swollen  torrents, 
avalanches  of  boulders  and  trees,  besides  the  usual 
concomitants  of  a  Peruvian  bridle-path,  cheered  us 
on  our  way. 

Soon  after  leaving  our  friends  we  had  to  ford  a 
particularly  dangerous  torrent  where  the  mules 
had  all  they  could  possibly  do  to  keep  their  footing 
in  the  foamy  waters.  After  the  crossing  we  rested 
to  watch  Castillo,  one  of  the  soldiers  who  had  been 
assigned  to  accompany  us,  cross  the  stream  on  foot. 
His  mule,  tired  out  by  the  dreadful  trail,  was  being 
rested.  It  had  forded  the  stream  with  the  others 
and  was  standing  by  us  watching  the  soldier  take 
perilous  leaps  from  boulder  to  boulder,  where  a 
misstep  would  have  meant  certain  death.  Hardly 
had  Castillo  gained  our  side  of  the  stream  when  the 
mule  decided  to  return  to  Abancay  and  plunged 
back  across  the  dangerous  ford.  With  a  shout  of 
rage,  the  soldier  repeated  his  performance,  gained 


THE   CLIMB   TO   CHOQQUEQUIRAU    297 

the  other  side  of  the  torrent,  and  started  after  the 
mule,  now  quite  rested,  and  trotting  off  briskly  for 
home.  A  chase  of  a  mile  and  a  half  put  Castillo 
into  no  very  pleasant  frame  of  mind,  and  the  mule 
had  little  respite  for  the  remainder  of  the  day.  At 
noon  we  stopped  a  few  moments  in  the  village  of 
Cachora  where  the  Prefect  had  instructed  the  Gober- 
nador  to  prepare  us  a  "suitable  luncheon."  This  in- 
toxicated worthy  offered  us  instead  many  apologies, 
and  we  had  to  get  along  as  best  we  could  with  three 
or  four  boiled  eggs,  all  the  village  could  provide. 

All  day  long  through  rain  and  heavy  mist  that 
broke  away  occasionally  to  give  us  glimpses  of 
wonderfully  deep  green  valleys  and  hillsides  covered 
with  rare  flowers,  we  rode  along  a  slippery  path  that 
grew  every  hour  more  treacherous  and  difficult. 
In  order  to  reach  the  little  camp  on  the  bank  of  the 
Apurimac  that  night,  we  hurried  forward  as  fast  as 
possible  although  frequently  tempted  to  linger  by 
the  sight  of  acres  of  magnificent  pink  begonias  and 
square  miles  of  blue  lupins.  By  five  o'clock,  we 
began  to  hear  the  roar  of  the  great  river  seven 
thousand  feet  below  us  in  the  cafion.  The  Apurimac, 
which  flows  through  the  Ucayali  to  the  Amazon, 
rises  in  a  little  lake  near  Arequipa,  so  far  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Amazon  that  it  may  be  said  to  be  the 
parent  stream  of  that  mighty  river.  By  the  time  it 
reaches  this  region,  it  is  a  raging  torrent  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  wide,  and  at  this  time  of  the  year, 
over  eighty  feet  deep.  Its  roaring  voice  can  be 
heard  so  many  miles  away  that  it  is  called  by  the 
Quichuas,  the  Apurimac,  or  the  "Great  Speaker." 


298  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Our  guide,  the  enthusiastic  Caceres,  declared  that 
we  had  now  gone  far  enough.  As  it  was  beginning 
to  rain  and  the  road  from  there  on  was  "worse  than 
anything  we  had  as  yet  experienced,"  he  said  it 
would  be  better  to  camp  for  the  night  in  an  aban- 
doned hut  near  by.  His  opinion  was  eagerly  wel- 
comed by  two  of  the  party,  young  men  from  Aban- 
cay,  who  were  having  their  first  real  adventure, 
but  the  two  Yankis  decided  that  it  was  best  to  reach 
the  river  if  possible.  Caceres  finally  consented,  and 
aided  by  the  dare-devil  Castillo,  we  commenced  a 
descent  that  for  tortuous  turns  and  narrow  escapes 
beat  anything  we  had  yet  seen.  Just  as  darkness 
came  on,  we  encountered  a  large  tree  that  had  so 
fallen  across  our  path  as  completely  to  block  all 
progress.  It  seemed  as  though  we  must  return  to 
the  hut.  Half  an  hour's  work  enabled  us  to  pass  this 
obstacle  only  to  reach  a  part  of  the  hillside  where 
an  avalanche  had  recently  occurred.  Here  even  the 
mules  and  horses  trembled  with  fright  as  we  led 
them  across  a  mass  of  loose  earth  and  stones  which 
threatened  to  give  way  at  any  moment.  Only  two 
weeks  previously,  two  mules  had  been  lost  here. 
Their  crossing  had  started  a  renewal  of  the  ava- 
lanche which  had  taken  the  poor  animals  along  with 
it. 

An  hour  after  dark  we  came  out  on  a  terrace.  The 
roar  of  the  river  was  so  great  that  we  could  scarcely 
hear  Caceres  shouting  out  that  our  troubles  were 
now  over  and  "all  the  rest  was  level  ground."  This 
turned  out  to  be  only  his  little  joke.  We  were  still 
a  thousand  feet  above  the  river  and  a  path  cut  in 


A  CHASM    DOWN   WHICH    PLUNGED  A   SMALL  CATARACT 


THE   WONDERFUL   CANON    OF    THE   APURIMAC 


THE  CLIMB  TO  CHOQQUEQUIRAU    299 

the  face  of  a  precipice  had  yet  to  be  negotiated.  In 
broad  daylight  we  should  never  had  dared  to  ride 
down  the  tortuous  trail  that  led  from  the  terrace 
to  the  bank  of  the  river.  But  as  it  was  quite  dark 
and  we  were  quite  innocent  of  any  danger  we  readily 
followed  the  cheery  voice  of  our  guide.  The  path 
is  what  is  known  as  a  corkscrew  and  descended  the 
wall  of  the  canon  by  means  of  short  turns  each 
twenty  feet  long.  At  one  end  of  each  turn  was  the 
precipice,  while  at  the  other  was  a  chasm  down  which 
plunged  a  small  cataract  which  had  a  clear  fall  of 
seven  hundred  feet.  Half  way  down  the  path  my 
mule  stopped,  trembling,  and  I  dismounted  to  find 
that  in  the  darkness  he  had  walked  off  the  trail  and 
had  slid  down  the  cliff  to  a  ledge.  How  to  get  him 
back  was  a  problem.  It  is  not  easy  to  back  an  ani- 
mal up  a  steep  hill,  and  there  was  no  room  in  which 
to  turn  him  around.  It  was  such  a  narrow  escape 
that  when  I  got  safely  back  onto  the  trail,  I  decided 
to  walk  the  rest  of  the  way  and  let  the  mule  go  first, 
preferring  to  have  him  fall  over  the  precipice  alone 
if  that  were  necessary. 

Two  thirds  of  the  way  down  the  descent  came 
the  crux  of  the  whole  matter,  for  here  the  path 
crossed  the  narrow  chasm  close  to  and  directly  in 
front  of  the  cataract,  and  in  the  midst  of  its  spray. 
There  was  no  bridge.  To  be  sure,  the  waterfall  was 
only  three  feet  wide,  but  it  was  pitch  dark.  As  I 
could  not  see  the  other  side  of  the  chasm,  I  did  not 
dare  to  jump  alone,  but  remounted  my  mule,  held 
my  breath,  and  gave  him  both  spurs  at  once.  His 
jump  was  successful. 


300  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Ten  minutes  later  we  saw  the  welcome  light  of  the 
master  of  the  camp  who  came  out  to  guide  us 
through  a  thicket  of  mimosa  trees  that  grew  on  the 
lower  terrace  just  above  the  river. 

The  camp  consisted  of  two  huts,  six  by  seven, 
built  of  reeds.  Here  we  passed  a  most  uncomfort- 
able night.  Mr.  Hay  has  described  the  next  few 
hours  so  vividly  in  his  diary  that,  with  his  per- 
mission, I  am  going  to  quote  his  account  of  it. 

"Our  luggage,  including  the  folding  cots,  did  not 
arrive  that  night  till  very  late,  so  we  slept  on  benches 
made  of  bamboo  poles,  in  our  boots,  under  an  open 
thatch-roofed  shelter.  During  the  night  the  Pre- 
fect's secretary,  el  periodista,  either  in  exuberance 
over  reaching  the  bottom  of  the  mountain  in  safety, 
or  being  unstrung  on  account  of  his  recent  experience, 
or  simply  because  he  was  a  bounder,  fired  his  revolver 
off  at  three  different  times,  the  ball  fortunately  pass- 
ing through  the  roof  each  time.  I  must  admit  that  I 
was  so  sound  asleep  as  to  hear  only  one  of  the  shots, 
though  I  was  so  near  the  "young  idea"  that  I  could 
have  touched  him  with  my  hand.  Even  he,  though, 
wearied  of  that  form  of  amusement  after  a  time,  and 
quiet  was  restored  until  3  A.  M.  At  that  hour  a 
rooster,  who  had  quietly  been  resting  with  his 
women-folk  on  a  pole  over  our  heads,  decided  that 
dawn  was  coming  on,  or  if  it  was  n't,  ought  to  be,  and 
showed  us  conclusively  what  a  healthy  pair  of 
feathered  lungs,  in  a  rarified  atmosphere,  was  capa- 
ble of.  He  was  within  reach,  but  I  bided  my  time. 
Not  half  enough  notice  had  been  taken  of  the  alarm 
to  suit  him,  and  I  saw  the  chest  of  Sr.  Chanticlerio 


THE   CLIMB   TO   CHOQQUEQUIRAU    301 

expand  for  a  supreme  effort.  He  raised  himself  to 
his  full  height  and  let  loose.  With  ever  increasing 
volume  the  notes  poured  out,  until  just  as  it  seemed 
he  would  burst,  in  the  concluding  notes  of  the 
anthem,  I  arose,  and  with  the  side  of  my  hand, 
caught  him  in  the  place  that  needed  it  most.  He 
summoned  up  the  courage  to  give  one  defiant  little 
crow  three  hours  later.  But  his  spirit  was  broken,  and 
his  style  was  cramped  by  the  periodista,  who,  awake 
by  this  time,  was  firing  at  him  with  his  revolver. 
There  were  no  casualties." 

While  breakfast  was  being  prepared  we  went  out 
to  take  pictures  and  measurements  of  the  bridge. 
This  was  273  feet  long  by  32  inches  wide,  and  the 
river  250  feet  wide.  "  Don  Mariano,"  the  builder  of 
the  bridge,  told  us  that  when  construction  com- 
menced, the  water  was  nearly  eighty  feet  below  the 
bridge  although  at  present  the  river  had  risen  so 
that  it  was  only  twenty-five  feet  below  it,  an  in- 
crease in  depth  of  over  fifty  feet.  An  almost  incredi- 
ble bulk  of  water  was  roaring  between  its  steep 
banks.  It  was  estimated  at  100  feet  deep,  and  yet 
the  water  piled  up  on  itself  in  such  a  way  as  to  give 
the  appearance  of  running  against  huge  boulders  in 
midstream. 

We  sent  the  Indian  bearers  ahead  with  our  lug- 
gage. Pack  animals  could  not  possibly  use  the  trail 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river  and  the  bridge  was  not 
constructed  to  carry  their  weight.  The  surprising 
thing  was  that  the  Indians  were  very  much  afraid 
of  the  frail  little  bridge  which  Chinese  courage  and 
ingenuity  had  built,  and  crept  gingerly  across  it  on 


302  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

their  hands  and  knees  while  they  carried  our  lug- 
gage and  supplies  to  the  other  side  of  the  river. 
They  had  been  accustomed  for  centuries  to  using 
frail  suspension  bridges  much  less  strong  in  reality 
than  this  little  structure.  But  they  are  not  ac- 
quainted with  the  tenacity  of  wire,  and  it  seemed 
the  height  of  frivolity  to  them  that  we  should  be 
willing  to  trust  our  lives  to  such  a  small  "rope."  Yet 
the  much  larger  fibre  ropes  of  which  their  suspension 
bridges  were  constructed  would  not  begin  to  stand 
the  strain  as  well  as  these  six  telegraph  wires. 

After  a  breakfast  of  thin  soup  and  boiled  sweet 
potatoes,  we  girded  ourselves  for  the  ascent.  The 
river  at  this  point  is  about  5000  feet  above  sea- 
level.  We  had  had  little  practice  in  mountain 
climbing,  except  on  mule-back,  for  many  months, 
and  it  seemed  like  a  pretty  serious  undertaking  to 
attempt  to  climb  six  thousand  feet  more  to  an  ele- 
vation of  11,000  feet.  This  will  sound  tame  enough 
to  the  experienced  mountain  climber  although  it 
was  anything  but  easy  for  us.  Our  patient,  long- 
suffering  Quichua  bearers,  coming  of  a  race  that,  at 
high  altitudes,  is  in  the  habit  of  marching  distances 
which  appear  incredibly  long  to  those  students  of 
military  history  that  have  confined  their  attention 
to  the  movements  of  European  troops,  bore  their 
burdens  most  cheerfully.  At  the  same  time  they 
gave  frequent  evidence  of  great  fatigue  which  was 
not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at  under  the  circumstances. 

Of  one  incident  of  the  ascent  Mr.  Hay  wrote  : 
"Most  of  the  party  started  long  before  the  two 
*Yanquis,'  but  in  half  an  hour  we  caught  up  w^ith 


SUNRISE  p  : 


1 


rm     I  RAIL   LITTL: 


O'  R  THE   APURIxMAC 


THE  CLIMB  TO  CHOQQUEQUIRAU    303 

them.  They  had  waylaid  an  Indian  bearer  and  were 
having  beer  and  other  refreshments  under  a  tree. 
Here  we  noticed  an  example  of  the  height  of  gener- 
osity towards  an  Indian  in  Peru.  This  is  to  let  him 
carry  all  day,  among  other  things,  the  refreshments. 
Then  take  the  beer,  drink  it,  and  return  him  the 
bottle.  The  bottle,  be  it  noted,  should  be  received 
with  many  expressions  of  thanks  on  the  part  of  the 
Indian.  We  passed  the  revellers  and  plodded  on  up 
together.  Unfortunately  for  history  but  fortunately 
for  our  nerves,  at  least,  the  periodista  gave  out  soon 
after  this  and  was  forced  to  turn  back.  So  the 
chronicle  of  the  events  at  Choqquequirau  must 
come  only  from  the  pen  of  an  alien?  Not  for  a 
minute!  El  periodista  was  ever  with  us  in  spirit,  and 
the  report  for  the  Lima  Journal  fared  far  better  at 
the  hands  of  Imagination  than  it  ever  could  have 
through  plain  Experience." 

The  enthusiastic  Caceres  kept  shouting  "valor" 
at  the  top  of  his  lungs  as  evidence  of  his  good  spirits 
and  in  an  effort  to  encourage  the  others.  The  two 
Yankis  had  a  hard  time  of  it  and  were  obliged  to 
stop  and  rest  nearly  every  fifty  feet. 

At  times  the  trail  was  so  steep  that  It  was  easier 
to  go  on  all  fours  than  to  attempt  to  maintain  an 
erect  attitude.  Occasionally  we  crossed  streams  in 
front  of  waterfalls  on  slippery  logs  or  treacherous 
little  foot-bridges.  At  other  times  we  clung  to  the 
face  of  rocky  precipices  or  ascended  by  roughly 
constructed  ladders  from  one  elevation  to  another. 
Although  the  hillside  was  too  precipitous  to  allow 
much  forest  growth,  no  small  part  of  the  labor  of 


304  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

making  the  path  had  been  the  work  of  cutting 
through  dense  underbrush. 

As  we  mounted,  the  view  of  the  valley  became 
more  and  more  magnificent.  Nowhere  have  I  ever 
witnessed  such  beauty  and  grandeur  as  was  here 
displayed.  A  white  torrent  raged  through  the  canon 
six  thousand  feet  below  us.  Where  its  sides  were 
not  too  precipitous  to  admit  of  vegetation,  the  steep 
slopes  were  covered  with  green  foliage  and  luxuriant 
flowers.  From  the  hilltops  near  us  other  slopes  rose 
six  thousand  feet  beyond  and  above  to  the  glaciers 
and  snow-capped  summits  of  Mts.  Sargantay  and 
Soray.  In  the  distance,  as  far  as  we  could  see, 
a  maze  of  hills,  valleys,  tropical  jungle,  and  snow- 
capped peaks  held  the  imagination  as  though  by  a 
spell.  Such  were  our  rewards  as  we  lay  panting  by 
the  side  of  the  little  path  when  we  had  reached  its 
highest  point. 

After  getting  our  wind,  we  followed  the  trail  westr 
ward,  skirting  more  precipices  and  crossing  other 
torrents,  until,  about  two  o'clock,  we  rounded  a 
promontory  and  caught  our  first  glimpse  of  the 
ruins  of  Choqquequirau  on  the  slopes  of  a  bold 
mountain  headland  6000  feet  above  the  river. 
Between  the  outer  hilltop  and  the  ridge  connecting 
it  with  the  snow-capped  mountains,  a  depression  or 
saddle  had  been  terraced  and  levelled  so  as  to  leave 
a  space  for  the  more  important  buildings  of  the 
Inca  stronghold. 

At  three  o'clock  we  reached  a  glorious  waterfall 
whose  icy  waters,  coming  probably  from  the  glaciers 
on  Soray,  cooled  our  heads  and  quenched  our  thirst. 


THE   CLIMB   TO   CHOQQUEQUIRAU  305 

We  had  now  left  our  companions  far  behind,  and 
were  pushing  slowly  along  through  the  jungle,  when 
shortly  before  four  o'clock  we  saw  terraces  in  the 
near  distance.  Just  as  we  began  to  enjoy  the  pros- 
pect of  reaching  Choqquequirau  alone,  Caceres  and 
Castillo  caught  up  with  us.  They  had  stayed  be- 
hind in  a  futile  attempt  to  encourage  the  Indian 
bearers,  and  the  other  adventurers  to  have  more 
"valor."  The  others  did  not  arrive  until  the  next 
morning;  not  even  the  Quichua  carriers  on  whom 
we  depended  for  food  and  blankets. 

Soon  after  our  arrival,  we  clambered  up  to  a 
little  bit  of  flat  ground,  where  evidently  the  Incas 
once  cultivated  their  crops,  to  enjoy  the  view. 
Here  we  were  discovered  by  a  huge  condor  who  pro- 
ceeded to  investigate  the  invaders  of  his  domain. 
Apparently  without  moving  a  muscle,  he  sailed 
gracefully  down  in  ever  narrowing  circles  until  we 
could  see  clearly  not  only  his  cruel  beak  and  great 
talons,  but  even  the  whites  of  his  eyes.  We  had  no 
guns  and  not  even  a  club  with  which  to  resist  his 
attack.  It  was  an  awe-inspiring  moment,  for  he 
measured  at  least  twelve  feet  from  tip  to  tip  of  wing. 
When  within  forty  feet  of  us  he  decided  not  to  dis- 
turb us,  and  seemingly  without  changing  the  posi- 
tion of  a  feather,  soared  off  into  space.  We  were  told 
afterwards  by  Caceres  and  Castillo  that  they  had 
been  greatly  alarmed  by  condors  when  they  first 
commenced  operations  here. 

Owing  to  the  non-appearance  of  the  carriers  we 
passed  an  uncomfortable  night  In  the  smallest  of 
the  little  thatched  huts  which  the  workmen  had 


3o6  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

erected  for  their  own  use.  It  was  scarcely  three  feet 
high  and  about  six  feet  long  by  four  feet  wide.  The 
day  had  been  warm,  and  in  our  efforts  to  make 
climbing  as  ea.sy  as  possible,  we  had  divested  our- 
selves of  all  our  warm  clothes.  Notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  a  shelter  tent  was  pulled  down  and 
wrapped  around  us  for  warmth,  and  stacks  of  dry 
grass  piled  about  us,  we  were  scarcely  able  to  close 
our  eyes  for  the  cold  and  chilling  dampness  all  night 
long. 

The  humidity  was  one  hundred  or  nearly  so  during 
the  four  days  which  we  spent  on  the  mountain.  Con- 
sequently we  passed  the  majority  of  the  time  in 
thick  mist  or  rain. 


inity,Peru.  — 


dale 
l-sen  Feb.7,8,9. 10, 1909, 

CE  Hay  Esq 


^  Giant  Stairway 

3  Lower  Plaza 

4  Outer  Fort 

5  Water  Fall 

6  Ruias&Terraces  iaWoods 

posttioas-measurements  approx, 

7  G  reeves 

Coatour  Interval  100  feet. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

CHOQQUEQUIRAU 

r-r^HE  next  morning  we  began  at  once  to  take 
J.  measurements  and  get  what  pictures  we 
could.  We  found  that  the  ruins  were  clustered  in 
several  groups  both  on  terraces  and  natural  shelves, 
reached  by  winding  paths  or  stairways.  Some  build- 
ings were  long  and  narrow  and  of  one  story ;  others 
of  a  story  and  a  half  with  tall  gables.  The  buildings 
were  placed  close  together,  probably  in  order  to 
economize  all  the  available  space.  It  is  likely  that 
every  square  yard  that  could  be  given  to  agricul- 
ture was  cultivated. 

Magnificent  precipices  guard  the  ruins  on  every 
side  and  render  Choqquequirau  virtually  inaccessi- 
ble to  an  enemy.  Every  avenue  of  ascent,  except 
such  as  the  engineers  determined  to  leave  open, 
was  closed,  and  every  strategic  spot  was  elaborately 
fortified.  Wherever  it  might  have  been  possible  for 
a  bold  mountaineer  to  gain  a  foothold,  the  Incas 
had  built  well-faced  walls  of  stone  so  as  to  leave  an 
adventurous  assailant  no  support.  The  terraces 
thus  made  served  the  double  purpose  of  military 
defence  and  of  keeping  the  soil  from  sliding  away 
from  the  gardens  down  the  steep  hillside. 

As  may  be  seen  from  the  map,  the  ruins  consist  of 
three  distinct  groups  of  buildings. 


3o8  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

All  had  been  more  or  less  completely  hidden  by 
trees  and  vines  during  the  centuries  of  solitude. 
Fortunately  for  us  the  treasure-seeking  company 
had  done  excellent  work  in  clearing  away  from  the 
more  important  buildings  the  tangled  mass  of 
vegetation  that  had  formerly  covered  them.  Dyna- 
mite had  also  been  used  in  various  likely  spots  where 
treasure  might  have  been  buried.  But  the  workmen 
had  found  no  gold  and  only  a  few  objects  of  interest 
including,  besides  those  we  saw  at  Abancay,  a  few 
clay  pots  and  two  or  three  grinding  stones  of  a  pat- 
tern still  in  use  in  this  part  of  the  Andes  and  as  far 
north  as  Panama. 

At  the  top  of  the  southern  and  outer  precipice, 
five  thousand  eight  hundred  feet  immediately  above 
the  river,  stands  a  parapet  and  the  v/alls  of  two 
buildings  without  windows.  The  view  from  here, 
both  up  and  down  the  valley  of  the  Apurimac,  sur- 
passes the  possibilities  of  language  for  adequate 
description.  The  photograph  gives  but  the  faintest 
idea  of  its  beauty  and  grandeur.  Far  down  the 
gigantic  caiion  one  catches  little  glimpses  of  the 
Apurimac,  a  white  stream  shut  in  between  guardian 
mountains,  so  narrowed  by  the  distance  that  it 
seems  like  a  mere  brooklet.  Here  and  there  through 
the  valley  are  marvellous  cataracts,  one  of  which, 
two  thousand  feet  high,  has  a  clear  fall  of  over  one 
thousand  feet.  The  panorama  in  every  direction  is 
wonderful  in  variety,  contrast,  beauty,  and  grandeur. 

North  of  this  outer  group  of  buildings  is  an  arti- 
ficially truncated  hill.  It  is  probable  that  on  this 
flattened  hilltop,  which  commands  a  magnificent 


BUILT   OF    SroXKS    ],.\n>    l.\    I   LAV 


THE   PARTY   WALL   RISES   TO   THE   PEAK 


CHOQQUEQUIRAU  309 

view  up  and  down  the  valley,  signal  fires  could  be 
built  to  telegraph  to  the  heights  overlooking  Cuzco, 
intelligence  of  the  approach  of  an  enemy  from  the 
Amazonian  wilds. 

We  noticed  on  this  hilltop  that  small  stones  had 
been  set  into  the  ground,  in  straight  lines  crossing 
and  recrossing  at  right  angles  as  though  to  make 
a  pattern.  So  much  of  it  was  covered  by  grass,  how- 
ever, that  we  did  not  have  a  chance  to  sketch  it  in 
the  time  at  our  disposal. 

North  of  the  lookout  and  on  the  saddle  between 
it  and  the  main  ridge  is  located  the  main  group  of 
ruins:  a  rude  fortification  fifteen  feet  high,  running 
across  the  little  ridge  from  one  precipitous  slope  to 
the  other;  a  long  one-story  building  of  uncertain 
use  in  which  curious  carved  stone  rings  are  set  into 
the  walls  in  such  a  manner  as  to  serve  possibly  for 
the  detention  of  prisoners;  a  long  one-story  building 
that  might  have  been  a  grand  hall  or  place  of  meet- 
ing, whose  walls  are  surrounded  with  numerous 
niches;  and  a  block  of  story-and-a-half  houses 
whose  gabled  ends  are  still  standing.  The  use  of 
gables  was  almost  universal  in  the  central  and  south- 
ern part  of  the  land  of  the  Incas. 

These  double  buildings  stand  transversely  to  the 
general  line  of  the  edifices  and  have  a  middle  or 
party- wall  exactly  dividing  the  gable.  It  rises  to 
the  peak  of  the  structure  and  once  doubtless  sup- 
ported the  upper  ends  of  the  rafters.  These  houses 
bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  one  of  the  Inca  build- 
ings at  Ollantaytambo  described  by  Squier  *  in  the 

^  E.  G.  Squier,  Peru,  p.  503, 


310  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

following  words:  "It  is  a  story  and  a  half  high, 
built  of  rough  stones  laid  in  clay,  and  originally 
stuccoed,  with  a  central  wall  reaching  to  the  apex 
of  the  gables,  dividing  it  into  two  apartments  of 
equal  size.  .  .  .  There  seems  to  have  been  no  access 
to  the  upper  story  from  the  interior,  but  there  are 
two  entrances  to  it  through  one  of  the  gables,  where 
four  flat  projecting  stones  seem  to  have  supported 
a  kind  of  balcony  or  platform,  reached  probably  by 
ladders."  This  description  fits  these  structures 
almost  exactly.  There  are  other  resemblances  be- 
tween Choqquequirau  and  the  Inca  fortresses 
visited  and  described  by  Mr.  Squier.  In  fact,  one 
.might  use  many  a  sentence  from  his  accounts  of 
Pisac  and  Ollantaytambo  that  would  adequately 
describe  Choqquequirau  and  its  surroundings.  Like 
the  buildings  of  Ollantaytambo,  these  are  nearly 
perfect,  lacking  only  the  roof. 

The  two-story  houses  had  an  exterior  measure- 
ment of  42  by  38  feet.  Similar  ones  measured  by 
Squier  near  the  temple  of  Viracocha  north  of  Lake 
Titicaca,  were  also  divided  into  two  equal  apart- 
ments and  measured  46  by  38  feet.  The  fronts  of 
each  building  have  two  entrances  and  the  Interior 
of  every  apartment  is  ornamented  with  Irregular 
niches  within  which  some  of  the  stucco  still  remains. 
The  walls  are  Irregular  but  usually  about  three  feet 
thick,  and  are  composed  of  unhewn  fragments  of 
lava  cemented  together  with  a  stiff  clay. 

In  general,  all  the  walls  appear  to  have  been  built 
entirely  of  stone  and  clay.  The  construction,  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  Inca  palaces  in  Cuzco,  is 


''/|^*iid/;*fk^X#>. 


#^/M*>***f-*^'''- 


^#SS:i 


'.■iim  i.,i4»  iii..ija..iii  j«.uiiiu,iiuiiiiBiwfawiwfB..  •;;^, ,  '^  ^'^mf/fJ^s 


General  Plan 

O    F- 

Lower  Plaza  — 


ChoqqucquiRau 


Drawn  by  C.W  Dr^sdals  from  Meaaure- 
ments  a.^dP^lotographs  faken  Feb.7,a.9,IO,  1909 

byDr.HiRAM  Bingham  and  Clarence 

Hay  Esa 


CHOQQUEQUIRAU  311 

extremely  rude  and  rough  and  no  two  niches  or  doors 
are  exactly  ahke.  Occasionally  the  lintels  of  the 
doors  were  made  of  timber,  the  builders  not  having 
taken  the  trouble  to  provide  stones  wide  enough  for 
the  purpose.  One  such  lintel  was  still  standing,  the 
wood  being  of  a  remarkably  hard  texture. 

Probably  the  ruins  to-day  present  a  more  striking 
appearance  than  they  did  when  they  were  covered 
with  thatched  roofs. 

Ornamental  niches  which  constitute  a  character- 
istic and  constant  feature  in  Inca  architecture  ap- 
pear on  the  interior  of  all  the  Choqquequirau  build- 
ings and  on  the  exterior  of  a  few.  Some  of  those  on 
the  outside  are  of  the  re-entering  variety.  Those  on 
the  inside  are  of  two  kinds.  The  larger  ones  about 
five  feet  high  reach  to  the  floors  of  the  apartments 
and  are  mere  closets,  as  it  were,  without  doors, 
being  slightly  wider  at  the  bottom,  about  thirty-four 
inches,  than  at  the  top,  about  twenty-eight  inches, 
and  of  varying  depth,  thirteen  to  sixteen  inches.  A 
second  line,  smaller  and  not  reaching  to  the  ground, 
is  also  found  in  several  of  the  structures.  There  is 
good  evidence  that  some  of  the  walls  were  faced 
with  stucco  and  possibly  painted  in  colors.  In  the 
case  of  one  wall  that  had  been  partly  pushed  out  of 
the  perpendicular  by  the  action  of  time,  several  of 
the  niches  retained  almost  entirely  their  coating  of 
stucco,  and  so  did  some  of  the  more  protected  por- 
tions of  the  wall. 

Almost  the  only  ornamentation  which  the  houses 
contained  besides  the  ever-present  niches,  were  cylin- 
drical blocks  of  stone  about  three  inches  in  diameter 


312  ACROSS  SOUTH    AMERICA 

projecting  twelve  or  fourteen  inches  from  the  wall 
seven  feet  above  the  ground  between  each  niche. 

In  one  of  the  niches  I  found  a  small  stone  whirl- 
bob  of  a  spindle-wheel,  in  size  and  shape  like  those 
made  from  wood  and  used  to-day  all  over  the  Andes 
by  Indian  women.  This  simple  spinning  apparatus 
consists  of  a  stick  about  as  large  as  the  little  finger 
and  from  ten  to  twelve  inches  long.  Its  lower  end 
is  fitted  with  a  whirlbob  of  wood  to  give  it  proper 
momentum  when  it  is  set  in  motion  by  a  twirl  of 
the  forefinger  and  thumb  grasping  the  upper  end 
of  the  spindle.  It  is  in  universal  use  by  Indian 
women  from  the  Andes  of  Colombia  to  those  of 
Chile,  and  one  rarely  sees  a  woman  tending  sheep  or 
walking  along  the  high  road  who  is  not  busily  en- 
gaged in  using  this  old-fashioned  spindle.  In  the 
tombs  of  Pachacamac  near  Lima  have  been  found 
spindles  still  fitted  with  similar  whirlbobs  of  stone. 

The  third  group  of  buildings  is  higher  up  on  the 
spur,  a  hundred  feet  or  more  above  the  second 
group.  Near  the  path  from  the  lower  to  the  upper 
plaza  are  the  remains  of  a  little  azequia  or  water- 
course, now  dry,  lined  with  flat  stones.  The  south- 
east corner  of  the  third  group  is  marked  by  a  huge 
projecting  rock  twenty  feet  high  and  twelve  or 
fifteen  feet  in  diameter.  Beside  it,  facing  the  eastern 
slope,  is  a  giant  stairway.  It  consists  of  fourteen 
great  steps  roughly  made  and  of  varying  dimen- 
sions. They  average  about  fifteen  feet  wide,  with 
risers  four  and  a  half  feet  high  and  treads  about  six 
and  a  half  feet  deep.  It  is  possible  to  ascend  these 
stairs  by  means  of  small  stone  steps  erected  on  one 


CHOQQUEQUIRAU  313 

end  or  the  other  of  the  giant  step.  Walls  on  each 
side,  two  feet  wide,  serve  as  a  balustrade.  A  pecu- 
liarity of  the  construction  is  the  locating  of  a  huge 
flat  stone  in  the  centre  of  the  riser  of  each  step. 
The  view  to  the  eastward  from  this  stairway  is 
particularly  fine.  Perhaps  the  rising  sun,  chief 
divinity  of  the  Incas,  was  worshipped  here. 

Beyond  the  stairway  are  terraces,  alley-ways, 
walls,  and  story-and-a-half  houses,  filled  with  niches 
and  windows.  The  length  of  the  first  terrace  is 
slightly  over  two  hundred  feet  and  its  height  is 
twelve  feet.  The  second  terrace  above  it  has  a 
height  of  ten  feet  and  a  length  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  feet.  Above  these  are  two  long  alley- 
ways or  halls  with  niches  in  their  walls  and  windows 
looking  out  over  the  terraces.  These  halls  are  five 
feet  wide.  Back  of  these  are  buildings  resembling 
in  their  construction  those  in  the  lower  group.  They 
also  are  decorated  with  irregular  niches  and  cylin- 
drical stone  projections.  Under  these  houses,  how- 
ever, there  ran  a  small  passage-way  or  drain  twelve 
inches  wide  and  ten  inches  deep.  These  two  houses, 
although  roughly  built,  were  as  nearly  the  same  size 
as  possible.  Between  them  ran  a  narrow  passage- 
way leading  to  a  back  alley.  This  was  curiously 
paved  with  slabs  of  slate  half  an  inch  thick.  Back 
of  this  is  another  hall  five  and  a  half  feet  wide  with 
windows  in  front  and  niches  on  the  rear,  or  hill,  side. 

The  gables  of  the  upper  group  are  steeper  than 
those  of  the  lower  group  and  are  in  fact  quite  as 
pointed  as  those  seen  in  Dutch  cities.  The  two 
gable  buildings  of  the  upper  group  stand  on  the 


314  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

slope  of  the  hill  in  such  a  manner  that  there  Is  no 
gable  on  the  side  nearest  the  declivity.  In  other 
words,  they  are  only  half  the  size  of  the  double 
houses  below.  Nearly  all  of  these  houses  have  two 
or  three  small,  rude  windows.  A  narrow  stone  stair- 
way leads  from  the  back  alley  to  a  terrace  above. 
This  opens  out  into  the  upper  plaza  on  which  are 
several  buildings  that  overlook  the  western  preci- 
pices. Two  of  the  houses  have  no  windows  and  one 
of  them  contains  three  cells.  The  Peruvians  said 
they  were  used  for  the  detention  of  prisoners.  They 
were  more  likely  storehouses.  On  the  north  side 
of  the  plaza  is  a  curious  little  structure  built  with 
the  utmost  care  and  containing  many  niches  and 
nooks.  It  may  possibly  have  been  for  the  detention 
of  so-called  "virgins  of  the  sun"  or  have  been  the 
place  in  which  criminals,  destined  to  be  thrown  over 
the  precipice,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Incas, 
awaited  their  doom.  The  plan  gives  a  good  idea  of 
its  irregular  construction. 

Above  It  the  hillside  rises  steeply,  and  on  the  crest 
of  the  ridge  runs  a  little  conduit  which  we  followed 
until  It  entered  the  Impenetrable  tropical  jungle 
at  the  foot  of  a  steep  hill.  The  water  In  this  little 
azequia,  now  dry,  coming  straight  down  the  spur, 
was  conducted  over  a  terrace  into  two  well-paved 
tanks  on  the  north  side  of  the  plaza.  Thence  it  ran 
across  the  plaza  to  a  little  reservoir  or  bath-house 
on  the  south  side.  This  was  ten  feet  long  by  five  feet 
wide  with  low  walls  not  over  five  feet  high  and  had 
on  Its  north  side  a  small  stone  basin  let  down  into 
the  floor  two  feet  by  three  In  such  a  manner  as  to 


•liipii^ 


Q- 


gpanfHsuwBwsw 


Giant  Stairway 


^'/iiift\^C~  —  GeneralPlan  — 

or 

Upper  Plaza  and  Giant  Stairway 

Choqqucquirau 


Drawn  by  C-WDrysdale  From  Measurements 

ondPhot-ographs  taken  Feb. 7.6.9.10, 1909  by  Dr.  HiRAM  BiNG  HAM  o„d  CLARENCE  H  AY  Es(?. 


CHOQQUEQUIRAU  315 

catch  the  water  that  flowed  over  the  edge  of  the 
wall.  A  small  outlet  had  been  provided  at  the  end 
of  this  basin  so  that  the  water  could  flow  under- 
neath the  floor  of  the  bathroom  or  tank  house  and 
then  proceed  on  its  way  down  the  ridge  to  the  build- 
ings below. 

As  the  western  slope  of  the  Choqquequirau  spur 
Is  a  sheer  precipice,  little  attempt  at  fortification 
was  made  on  that  side.  The  eastern  slope,  however, 
is  not  so  steep.  On  this  side  it  was  necessary  to 
build  enormous  terraces  hundreds  of  feet  long  faced 
with  perpendicular  walls  twelve  feet  wide.  Two 
narrow  paved  stairways  lead  from  one  terrace  to 
another. 

Near  one  of  the  terraces  I  picked  up  either  a  bola 
or  a  hammerstone  nearly  as  large  as  my  fist. 

In  the  jungle  immediately  below  the  last  terrace, 
under  ledges  and  huge  boulders,  were  dug  little 
caves  in  which  the  bones  of  the  dead  were  placed. 
I  found  that  the  bones  were  heaped  in  a  little  pile 
as  though  they  had  been  cleaned  before  being  in- 
terred. No  earth  had  been  placed  on  them,  but  on 
top  of  the  little  pile  in  one  grave  I  found  a  small 
earthenware  jar  about  one  inch  in  diameter.  It  had 
no  handles  and  was  not  closed  at  the  top  although 
the  opening,  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  had 
been  fitted  with  a  specially  well-made  perforated 
cap.  There  was  nothing  in  the  jar,  although  it  had 
retained  its  upright  position  during  all  the  years 
of  its  interment.  The  natural  entrance  to  the  lit- 
tle tomb  had  been  walled  up  with  wedge-shaped 
stones  from  the  inside  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 


3l6  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

it  extremely  difficult  to  enter  the  cave  from  the  front. 
I  found,  however,  that  by  digging  away  a  little  on 
one  side  of  the  huge  boulder,  I  could  easily  remove 
the  stones  which  had  evidently  been  placed  there  by 
the  grave-digger  after  the  bones  had  been  deposited 
in  the  tomb. 

The  workmen  had  excavated  under  a  dozen  or  more 
of  the  projecting  ledges  and  in  each  case  had  found 
bones  and  occasionally  shreds  of  pottery.  In  no 
case,  however,  had  they  found  anything  of  value 
to  indicate  that  the  dead  were  of  high  degree.  Prob- 
ably they  were  common  soldiers  and  servants.  If 
any  of  the  officers  of  the  garrison  or  Inca  nobles  were 
ever  buried  in  this  vicinity,  their  tombs  have  not 
yet  been  discovered,  or  else  the  graves  were  rifled 
years  ago.   But  of  this  there  is  no  evidence. 

All  the  conspicuously  large  rocks  below  the  ter- 
races have  been  found  to  cover  graves.  The  skulls 
were  not  found  alone  but  always  near  the  remainder 
of  the  skeleton.  The  larger  bones  were  in  fairly 
good  condition  but  the  smallest  ones  had  completely 
disintegrated.  Nevertheless,  ribs  were  frequently 
met  with.  Some  of  the  largest  bones  could  be  crum- 
bled with  the  fingers  and  easily  broken,  while  others 
w^ere  very  hard  and  seemed  to  be  extremely  well 
preserved.  Some  skulls  likewise  were  decayed  and 
could  be  easily  crushed  with  the  fingers  while  others 
were  white  and  hard ;  all  that  we  found  were  those 
of  adults,  although  one  or  two  of  them  seemed  to 
be  of  persons  not  over  twenty  j^ears  of  age.  So  far 
as  has  been  observed,  no  superincumbent  soil  was 
placed  on  the  skeleton. 


I.  A  ll,u\ariaii.         2-4.   Skulls  from  Chociciueiiuir.iu.         5-   -^  I  l.U-head  Indian. 

6.  Bola  found  at  Choqquequirau.  7.   VVliirl-bob- 

8.  Jar  found  in  a  grave,  Choqquequirau. 


INTERIOR   OK   A    BUILJJING    Ai    CH(  jygL  KCJL  I RAU 


CHOQQUEQUIRAU  317 

The  Quichua  Indian  carriers  and  workmen 
watched  our  operations  with  interest,  but  they 
became  positively  frightened  when  we  began  the 
careful  measurement  and  examination  of  the  bones. 
They  had  been  in  doubt  as  to  the  object  of  our 
expedition  up  to  that  point,  but  all  doubts  then 
vanished  and  they  decided  we  had  come  there  to 
commune  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed  Incas. 

As  a  rule,  the  evidence  of  deformation  of  the  skull 
was  slight  in  a  majority  of  the  specimens  examined. 
Nevertheless  one  had  been  much  flattened  behind 
and  another  extremely  so  in  front.  There  was  no 
evidence  of  any  having  been  trephined  or  of  any 
decorative  patterns  having  been  made  on  any  part 
of  either  skulls  or  bones.  Three  of  the  skulls  are  now 
in  the  Peabody  Museum  in  New  Haven,  with  the 
other  articles  I  found  here. 

On  the  steep  hillside  southeast  of  the  terraces  and 
graves,  we  found  many  less  important  ruins,  com- 
pletely covered  by  the  forest.  Were  it  possible  to 
clear  away  all  the  rich  tropical  growth  that  has  been 
allowed  to  accumulate  for  centuries,  one  would 
undoubtedly  find  that  there  is  not  a  point  which  is 
not  somehow  commanded  or  protected  by  a  maze 
of  outworks.  No  clearing  or  path  having  been 
constructed  in  order  to  enable  them  to  be  seen, 
we  could  not  form  an  adequate  idea  of  their  ex- 
tent. There  seemed  to  be,  however,  no  limit  to 
the  ruins  of  the  huts  where  lived  the  private  sol- 
diers and  the  servants  of  the  garrison.  One  hall 
measured  75  by  25  feet  while  another  was  30  by 
10,  and  it  is  entirely  possible  that  there  are  others 


3i8  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

that  have  not  yet  been  located,  so  dense  is  the 
jungle. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley  are  the  ruins 
of  Incahuasy,  near  Tambobamba,  which  have  been 
described  by  M.  Charles  Wiener.^  So  far  as  I  can 
judge  from  the  drawings  he  gives  of  one  of  the 
"palaces,"  the  construction  is  very  similar  to  that 
used  at  Choqquequirau. 

I  believe  that  Incahuasy  and  Choqquequirau  were 
originally  frontier  fortresses  that  defended  the  val- 
ley of  the  Apurimac,  one  of  the  natural  approaches 
to  Cuzco,  from  the  Amazonian  wilds.  A  glance  at 
the  map  will  show  that  Pisac  and  Paucartambo, 
northeast  of  Cuzco,  with  Ollantaytambo  to  the 
north  and  Choqquequirau  to  the  west  form  a  com- 
plete line  of  defence.  Each  is  located  in  one  of  the 
valleys  by  which  the  unconquered  Indians  of  the 
great  forest  could  attack  the  sacred  capital  of  the 
Incas.  The  Incas  were  never  able  to  extend  their 
empire  far  into  the  forests  that  covered  the  eastern 
slopes  of  the  Andes  or  the  valleys  of  the  rivers  that 
flow  toward  the  Amazon.  They  did,  however,  push 
their  empire  down  the  valleys  until  they  encountered 
the  savage  inhabitants  of  these  wild  forests,  savage 
Chunchas  or  Antis,  who  with  their  poisoned  arrows 
and  their  woodcraft  w^ere  well  able  to  protect  them- 
selves. The  Incas  were  obliged  to  stop  short  when 
they  reached  the  thick  forests.  The  massive  and  com- 
plicated fortresses  of  Paucartambo,  Pisac,  and  Ollan- 
taytambo marked  the  extent  of  their  sway.  There 
were  undoubtedly  several  less  important  outlying 
1  Perou  et  Bolivie,  pp.  293-5. 


CUZCO  AND   NEIGHBORING   FORTRESSES 


CHOQQUEQUIRAU  319 

fortresses  lower  down  the  rivers,  situated  in  such  a 
way  as  to  be  able  to  prevent  the  incursions  of  small 
parties  of  wild  savages  and  give  notice  of  any  large 
expeditions  that  might  attempt  to  march  on  Cuzco. 
They  were  so  placed  as  to  be  practically  impregnable. 
Choqquequirau  was  evidently  one  of  these. 

I  fear  that  no  amount  of  dynamite  will  ever  dis- 
close at  Choqquequirau  a  "Cradle  of  Gold"  or  any 
articles  of  great  value.  It  was  not  a  temple  or  a 
treasure  house,  but  a  fortress  where  life  was  strenu- 
ous. The  ofificers  of  its  garrison  were  not  likely  to 
bring  with  them  gold  ornaments  or  utensils,  and  the 
poor  Incas  had  few  such  baubles  left  at  the  end  of 
their  career. 

Why  then  should  it  have  been  called  the  "Cradle 
of  Gold?"  One  answer  is  that  the  ridge  or  spur  on 
which  Choqquequirau  lies,  when  seen  from  a  dis- 
tance, looks  not  unlike  a  hammock.  The  setting 
sun  often  tinges  it  with  gold  and  the  romantic  Incas 
might  easily  have  named  Choqquequirau  from  its 
resemblance  to  the  only  cradles  with  which  they 
were  familiar. 

The  other  answer  is  that  the  name,  which  does 
not  occur  in  any  of  the  chronicles,  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  discover,  is  a  modern  invention.  In 
one  of  the  buildings  we  found  several  slabs  of  slate 
on  which  visitors  have  been  accustomed  to  register 
their  names.  According  to  these  inscriptions  Choq- 
quequirau was  visited  in  1834  by  a  French  explorer 
M.  Eugene  de  Sartlges,  and  In  July,  1834,  by  two 
Peruvians,  Jose  Maria  de  Tejada  and  Marcelino 
Leon,  who  may  have  come  with  de  Sartlges. 


320  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Charles  Wiener,  in  his  very  unreliable  but  highly 
interesting  "Perou  et  Bolivie"  (Paris,  1880),  says 
(footnote,  p.  294)  that  Choqquequirau  has  also  been 
visited  by  another  Frenchman,  "  M.  Angrand  whose 
MS.  notes,  with  plans  and  drawings,  were  be- 
queathed to  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  in  Paris." 
I  find  they  are  merely  hastily-drawn  sketches.  One, 
a  route-map,  is  dated  "  30  7bre,"  [1847].  Angrand's 
name  does  not  appear  on  any  of  the  slates. 

Besides  de  Sartiges,  and  the  two  Peruvians  al- 
ready mentioned,  the  slate  records  show  that  in 
1861,  on  the  loth  of  November,  Jose  Benigno 
Samanez  ("pro  Presidente  Castilla")  Juan  Manuel 
Rivas  Plata,  and  Mariano  Cisneros  reached  the 
ruins.  Also  that  on  July  4,  1885,  Luis  E.  Almanza, 
J.  Antonio  Almanza,  Emiliano  Almanza,  Pio  Mo- 
grovejo  and  a  party  of  workmen  did  what  they  could 
to  find  the  buried  treasure.  So  much  for  the  exist- 
ing evidence  of  former  visitors. 

M.  de  Sartiges,  writing  under  the  nom  de  plume 
E.  de  Lavandais,  published  an  account  of  his  visit 
in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Monies,  in  June,  1850. 
His  route,  the  only  one  possible  at  the  time,  was 
exceedingly  circuitous.  From  Mollepata,  a  village 
near  the  sugar  plantation  of  La  Estrella,  he  went 
north  across  the  high  pass  between  Mts.  Sargantay 
and  Soray  to  the  river  Urubamba,  to  a  village  called 
Yuatquinia  (Huadquifia  [?]).  He  engaged  Indians 
to  cut  a  trail  to  Choqquequirau.  After  three  weeks 
he  found  that  the  difficulties  of  making  a  trail  were 
so  great  that  it  would  take  at  least  two  months  to 
finish  the  undertaking,  so  he  and  his  companions 


CHOQQUEQUIRAU  321 

made  their  way  through  the  jungle  and  along  the 
precipices  as  best  they  could  for  four  days.  On  the 
fifth  day  they  arrived  at  the  ruins.  In  his  projects 
for  exploration,  he  had  failed  to  take  into  account 
the  fact  that  tropical  vegetation  had  been  at  work 
for  centuries  covering  up  the  remains  of  the  Inca 
civilization,  and  as  he  was  only  able  to  stay  at  Choq- 
quequirau  for  two  or  three  days,  he  failed  to  see 
some  of  the  most  interesting  ruins.  The  giant  stair- 
way and  the  buildings  on  the  upper  plaza  seem  to 
have  escaped  his  attention  entirely.  He  was  greatly 
impressed  with  the  fortifications  on  the  south  side 
of  the  lower  plaza  and  speaks  of  them  as  though  they 
formed  a  triumphal  wall  ("mwr  triomphar').  He 
seems  to  have  spent  most  of  his  time  hunting  for 
treasure  behind  this  wall.  He  had  expected  to 
spend  eight  days  here,  but  the  difficulties  of  reaching 
the  place  were  so  great  and  the  food-supply  was  so 
limited  that  he  had  to  hurry  back  without  seeing 
more  than  the  buildings  of  the  lower  plaza,  the 
lower  terraces,  and  a  grave  or  two.  It  was  his  opin- 
ion that  fifteen  thousand  people  lived  here  once. 
One  wonders  what  they  lived  on. 

M.  de  Sartiges's  description  made  us  realize  how 
much  we  were  indebted  to  the  labors  of  the  treasure- 
seeking  company  for  penetrating  the  jungle  and 
uncovering  buildings  whose  presence  otherwise 
would  never  have  been  suspected. 

Raimondi  says  that  in  1862,  Don  Juan  Gastelu, 
a  Peruvian  traveller,  left  Ayacucho  in  an  effort  to  go 
up  the  valley  of  the  Apurimac  in  a  canoe,  hoping  in 
this  way  to  reach  the  ancient  fortress.   After  seven 


322  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

days  of  perilous  navigation,  he  gave  up  the  attempt 
long  before  reaching  its  vicinity. 

The  interesting  question  remains:  Was  this  the 
ultimate  refuge  of  the  last  Inca? 

It  is  reasonably  certain  that  Manco  Ccapac,  the 
last  emperor,  fleeing  from  the  wrath  of  the  con- 
querors, took  refuge  in  a  place  called  "  Vilcabamba." 
There  is  a  village  of  that  name,  two  or  three  days 
journey  over  the  mountains  north  of  Choqque- 
quirau,  on  the  Vilcabamba  River,  an  affluent  of  the 
Urubamba.  It  has  never  been  explored  so  far  as  I 
know. 

Peruvian  writers  like  Paz  Soldan  and  the  great 
geographer,  Raimondi,  are  positive  that  Manco 
Ccapac's  "Vilcabamba"  was  really  Choqquequirau. 
They  base  their  belief  on  the  fact  that  in  1566  an 
Augustinian  Friar,  Marcos  Garcia,  undertook  to 
penetrate  to  "Vilcabamba,"  where  poor  old  Manco 
Ccapac  had  found  a  refuge.  In  describing  his  tour, 
Father  Calancha,  the  author  of  the  "Chronica 
moralizada  del  Orden  de  San  Augustin,  Libro  III, 
Cap.  XXIV  and  XLII,"  says  that  Garcia  founded 
a  church  in  Pucyura,  "two  long  days'  journey  from 
Vilcabamba."  Raimondi  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that  Pucyura  is  only  two  leagues  from  the  present 
village  of  "Vilcabamba,"  and  while  he  admits  that 
it  is  possible  that  Father  Calancha  wrote  ''days' 
journey"  instead  of  ''leagues''  by  mistake,  he  be- 
lieves that  the  reference  is  to  Choqquequirau  which 
is  in  fact  two  long  days'  journey  from  Pucyura.  It 
is  at  least  a  very  roundabout  method  of  inference.^ 

1  Raimondi,  Peru,  vol.  ii,  p.  i6i. 


CHOQQUEQUIRAU  323 

Raimondi  may  be  correct,  but  until  some  one  shall 
have  explored  the  present  village  of  Vilcabamba 
and  its  vicinity,  I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that 
Choqquequirau  was  merely  a  fortress. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  have  received,  through 
the  kindness  of  Prof.  Roland  Dixon  of  Harvard 
University,  a  copy  of  a  pamphlet  by  the  distin- 
guished Peruvian  historian,  Carlos  A.  Romero, 
entitled  "Las  Ruinas  de  Choqquequirau,"  which 
gives  the  result  of  his  careful  researches  through  all 
the  works  of  writers  who  refer  to  Choqquequirau. 
It  does  not  add  to  our  actual  knowledge  of  the  early 
history  of  the  ruins. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

ABANCAY   TO   CHINCHEROS 

ONE  of  the  conditions  on  which  we  had  based 
our  decision  to  visit  Choqquequirau  was  that 
the  Prefect  was  to  see  to  it  that  animals  should  be 
ready  for  our  departure  as  soon  as  we  got  back,  and 
that  his  officials  along  the  road  should  facilitate  our 
progress  in  every  possible  manner.  To  his  credit 
be  it  said  that  he  kept  his  promise  faithfully,  not- 
withstanding all  the  rules  in  the  books  to  the  effect 
that  a  South  American  rarely  remembers  his  promise. 

The  next  day  after  our  return  to  Abancay,  we 
spent  in  re-arranging  our  luggage  and  making  ready 
for  a  rapid  march  to  Ayacucho.  The  Prefect  sent 
in  an  official  request  for  a  report  on  the  ruins  of 
Choqquequirau.  Not  being  a  Latin-American,  I  was 
unable  to  sit  down  and  dash  off  a  "thorough  satis- 
factory official  report"  in  an  hour  and  a  half  and 
had  to  explain  that  it  would  take  days  and  even 
weeks  to  draw  plans  from  the  data  in  our  field-books 
and  from  the  ten  dozen  negatives  we  had  exposed. 

On  the  following  day,  much  refreshed  in  body  and 
mind,  we  succeeded  in  getting  an  early  start.  We 
were  accompanied  out  of  town  by  a  score  of  enthu- 
siastic friends  whose  interest  in  our  undertaking  was 
perfectly  ingenuous  and  of  whom  we  had  learned 
to  be  very  fond.    They  not  only  decided  to  extend 


ABANCAY  TO   CHINCHEROS         325 

the  customary  "  mile  of  courtesy  "  to  a  dozen  or 
more,  but  later  they  followed  us  up  with  congratu- 
latory telegrams  speeding  us  on  our  way. 

Our  cavalcade  clattered  gayly  out  of  town  on  a 
fine  brisk  morning  when  for  some  reason  or  other 
it  did  not  happen  to  be  raining.  A  short  stop  at 
Yllanya  to  enable  us  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  kind 
Letona  family,  who  had  given  us  a  pleasant  ban- 
quet the  week  before,  was  rewarded  by  the  young 
master  of  the  house  having  his  horse  saddled  at  once 
and  insisting  on  taking  us  by  a  short  cut  through 
his  own  canefields.  These  looked  prosperous  enough, 
but  a  swarm  of  locusts  that  had  just  made  their 
appearance  was  pointed  out  to  us,  and  the  planter 
feared  greatly  for  his  crops. 

At  ten  o'clock  we  reached  the  river  Pachachaca, 
the  first  large  affluent  of  the  Apurimac.  We  crossed 
it  on  a  stone  bridge  whose  magnificent  single  arch 
was  erected  under  the  direction  of  a  Jesuit  architect, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  It  is  said  to  be  one 
of  the  longest  spans  in  the  Andes.  Here  we  stopped 
to  have  a  round  of  drinks  and  to  enjoy  the  scenery. 

It  was  a  beautiful  spot:  green  mountains  on  both 
sides  of  a  valley  filled  with  waving  sugar-cane 
through  the  midst  of  which  ran  a  roaring,  rushing 
torrent.  A  few  miles  farther  up  this  valley  there  are 
a  number  of  small  Indian  towns  in  which  General 
Sucre  had  his  headquarters  a  few  weeks  before  the 
battle  of  Ayacucho. 

An  hour's  brisk  trot  brought  us  to  Auquibamba, 
a  sugar  mill  and  plantation,  owned  by  Don  Federico 
Martinelli  who  was  unfortunately  ill  in  bed  and  not 


326  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

able  to  see  us,  although  his  engineer  and  manager 
did  the  honors  most  hospitably.  Quantities  of  de- 
licious oranges  were  brought  to  appease  our  appe- 
tites while  an  elaborate  lunch  was  being  prepared 
for  the  dozen  more  people  than  had  been  ex- 
pected. 

After  lunch  we  all  mounted  at  once.  The  custom 
of  taking  a  siesta  does  not  seem  to  prevail  at  this 
altitude,  7000  feet.  After  all  were  on  horseback, 
affectionate  good-bys  had  to  be  said,  and  notwith- 
standing the  nervousness  of  some  of  the  more  high- 
strung  animals,  their  riders  succeeded  in  embracing 
the  departing  guests  with  true  Spanish  fervor. 

Our  road  from  Auquibamba  led  through  a  charm- 
ing country  until  it  gradually  climbed  out  of  the 
valley  and  across  a  pass,  at  an  altitude  of  1 1 ,700  feet, 
where  there  was  a  small  lake  but  no  signs  of  trop- 
ical vegetation. 

We  saw  no  llamas  at  all.  Mules,  horses,  and  burros 
were  the  pack  animals  that  we  met  carrying  out 
kegs  of  aguardiente  and  loads  of  sugar  and  bringing 
in  foreign  merchandise.  Thanks  to  the  rainy  season, 
the  fields  were  covered  with  flowers,  many  varieties 
of  which  have  been  imported  for  our  own  gardens 
at  home.  Wonderfully  large  begonias,  excelling  in 
size  anything  I  had  ever  seen  before,  lupins,  cosmos, 
and  many  others  added  great  charm  to  the  scene 
and  partly  made  up  for  the  frightful  condition  of 
the  roads. 

Every  one  with  whom  we  talked  expressed  sur- 
prise that  we  should  attempt  a  journey  at  this  sea- 
son of  the  year  when  all  good  Peruvians  stay  at 


ABANCAY  TO   CHINCHEROS         327 

home.  Not  only  are  the  roads  positively  dangerous 
in  places,  but  the  heavy  rainfall  insures  a  thorough 
daily  drenching  unless  one  is  so  fortunate  as  to  be 
protected  by  a  very  heavy  rubber  poncho.  As  the 
natives  depend  almost  entirely  on  woolen  ponchos 
for  protection  against  the  rain,  it  may  be  imagined 
that  they  get  well  soaked  after  two  or  three  hours' 
riding,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  best  and 
most  expensive  vicuna  ponchos  are  beautifully  and 
closely  woven  and  will  shed  an  ordinary  shower. 

At  half  past  four  we  began  the  descent  into  the 
pretty  cultivated  valley  of  Huancarama.  The 
descent  was  steep  and  the  path  extremely  slippery, 
and  we  were  paying  so  much  attention  to  the  man- 
ner of  our  going  that  we  barely  noticed  the  cavalcade 
of  eight  horsemen  riding  at  full  gallop  up  the  val- 
ley. The  Gobernador  had  been  informed  of  our 
approach  by  the  kind-hearted  Prefect,  and  had 
brought  with  him  half  a  dozen  of  his  friends  to  do 
us  honor.  We  were  taken  at  once  to  his  house, 
a  small  adobe  hut,  and  treated  most  courteously. 
The  priest  of  the  village  and  two  of  the  leading 
citizens  were  urged  to  remain  and  dine  with  us, 
which  they  readily  consented  to  do.  After  dinner 
we  were  piloted  through  the  muddy  streets  to  the 
plaza  where  a  room,  evidently  used  for  various  gov- 
ernmental purposes,  was  placed  at  our  disposal. 
All  went  well  until  the  next  morning  when  we  were 
told  that  one  of  the  animals  which  the  Prefect  had 
furnished  us  belonged  to  the  Gobernador,  who  had 
lent  it  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Department  for  the 
expedition  to  Choqquequirau,  and  he  was  unwilling 


328  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

to  have  it  go  any  farther.  He  said  that  "one  of  his 
friends"  had  an  excellent  horse  which  he  would  rent 
us  for  that  day.  The  Gobernador  was  firm,  and  as  he 
had  sent  the  animal  to  pasture,  he  had  more  than 
"nine  points  of  the  law"  on  his  side.  Anyhow  we 
had  no  desire  to  impose  on  him,  and  requested  him 
to  have  his  "friend's  horse"  brought  around. 
There  seemed,  however,  to  be  some  sort  of  an  under- 
standing between  the  Gobernador  and  his  "friend," 
as  the  horse,  a  fairly  good-looking  beast,  was 
brought  out  from  the  Gobernador's  own  backyard. 
We  suspicioned  that  the  "  friend  "  was  probably  a 
confederate  in  graft,  if  not  actually  a  servant.  The 
price  asked  for  the  use  of  the  horse  for  one  day  was 
five  dollars.  Evidently  we  were  considered  to  be 
"easy."  We  appealed  the  matter  to  the  soldier  who 
had  been  sent  as  our  escort,  but  he  would  only  shake 
his  head  sadly  and  shrug  his  shoulders.  So  we  told 
the  Gobernador  the  price  was  outrageous  and  that 
rather  than  pay  it,  we  would  settle  down  in  Huan- 
caramaand  live  at  his  expense.  With  this  terrible  al- 
ternative staring  him  in  the  face  he  sent  his  servant 
to  another  "friend "  with  orders  to  bring  up  another 
animal.  This  time  the  price  asked  was  only  $i,  and 
although  the  soldier  said  that  was  twice  as  much 
as  the  regular  charge,  we  preferred  to  pay  it  rather 
than  be  delayed  any  longer. 

The  day  was  very  rainy.  It  may  have  been  for 
this  reason,  or  it  may  have  been  because  he  was 
disappointed  at  his  unsuccessful  attempt  at  "legiti- 
mate graft,"  that  the  Gobernador  did  not  assemble 
his  friends  and  escort  us  out  of  town.   In  either  case 


ABANCAY  TO  CHINCHEROS        329 

we  did  not  blame  him.  It  was  rather  a  relief  to 
escape  the  oft-repeated  expressions  of  sincere  sorrow 
at  departure  which  one  can  make  two  or  three  times, 
but  which  somehow  lack  spontaneity  and  sincerity 
when  they  must  be  repeated  to  a  cavalcade  of 
sixteen. 

The  road  was  no  improvement  on  that  of  the  day 
before.  A  long  cHmb  through  the  rain  and  sleet, 
a  long  descent  through  the  clouds  into  the  valley  of 
the  river  Pincos,  whose  tantalizing  roar  helped  us 
to  realize  what  magnificent  scenery  we  were  missing; 
a  little  glimpse  of  green  fields,  a  dilapidated  village, 
an  old  bridge,  and  another  long  steep  ascent  led 
us  finally  to  a  bleak  paramo  where  we  were  as  uncom- 
fortable as  cold  winds  and  drenching  rain  could 
make  us. 

Just  before  four  o'clock  we  were  gladdened  by 
the  sight  of  a  good-sized  town  and  hoped  that  it  was 
Andahuaylas,  our  destination,  but  our  escort  said 
it  was  only  San  Geronimo,  a  suburb  of  Andahuaylas. 
We  found  it  to  be  a  densely  populated  Indian  town 
of  the  usual  type.  Before  we  had  much  of  an  oppor- 
tunity to  take  in  its  points  of  interest,  however,  we 
were  surrounded  by  twenty  horsemen,  including  the 
sub- Prefect  of  Andahuaylas,  the  secretary  of  the 
province,  and  their  friends  who  had  ridden  to  meet 
us.  Much  as  we  appreciated  their  courtesy  and  the 
liquid  refreshments  they  brought  with  them,  we 
were  still  more  gratified  by  being  asked  to  dismount 
and  allow  the  soldiers  to  put  our  saddles  on  two  fresh 
horses.  It  may  have  been  because  the  rain  had 
stopped   its   torrential   downpour,  or  because  our 


330  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

tired,  jaded  animals  had  made  us  lose  all  sense  of 
proportion,  or  it  may  possibly  have  been  that  those 
two  horses  really  were  the  finest  animals  in  Peru; 
whatever  the  cause,  we  both  of  us  agreed  that  we 
had  never  enjoyed  any  ride  so  much  as  that  last 
mile  to  Andahuaylas,  and  that  we  had  never  ridden 
such  magnificent,  fiery  steeds  that  so  closely  resem- 
bled the  high  mettled  war-horse  that  one  usually 
sees  surmounted  by  General  Bolivar  either  in 
bronze  or  in  historical  paintings. 

The  good  people  of  Andahuaylas  had  heard  by 
telegraph  of  the  banquet  which  had  been  "tendered 
us"  in  Abancay  and  of  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
the  Prefect  had  welcomed  us  back  from  Choqque- 
quirau.  They  determined  not  to  be  outdone.  If 
an  additional  reason  was  needed  to  spur  them  on  to 
do  their  utmost,  it  came  in  the  press  despatches  that 
day  which  stated  that  Chile  was  about  to  throw 
down  the  gauntlet  to  Peru  by  definitively  announc- 
ing her  permanent  occupancy  of  the  provinces 
of  Tacna  and  Arica.  To  the  minds  of  the  older 
Peruvian  generation  who  had  felt  the  cruel  lash  of 
the  Chilean  conqueror  in  1883  and  had  witnessed 
the  burning  of  the  Lima  Library  and  the  stabling 
of  Chilean  horses  in  Peruvian  churches,  there 
seemed  little  hope  of  a  satisfactory  settlement  of 
the  dispute  and  no  desire  to  engage  in  another  war. 
Their  one  idea  seemed  to  be  that  the  United  States, 
with  its  love  of  fair  play,  would  see  to  it  that  Chile 
did  not  take  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  Peru  to 
rob  her  of  her  southernmost  province.  As  we  were 
the  only  Americans  in  sight,  and  as  there  was  about 


I 


ABANCAY  TO   CHINCHEROS         331 

us  a  certain  reflected  glamour  of  officialdom,  we  were 
treated  as  though  we  were  diplomats,  instead  of 
being,  as  they  knew  perfectly  well,  merely  a  dele- 
gate to  a  Scientific  Congress,  and  his  "secretary." 
Anyhow,  they  had  done  their  best  to  provide  a 
banquet  that  should  eclipse  the  glories  of  Abancay ; 
the  table  was  set  for  forty-five  and  it  may  safely  be 
assumed  that  most  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Anda- 
huaylas  were  present.  Little  American  flags,  made 
for  the  occasion,  were  crossed  with  Peruvian  flags 
on  the  walls  of  the  room.  Portraits  of  President 
Roosevelt  and  President  Leguia,  suitably  framed, 
decorated  the  wall  immediately  behind  us.  "Ice 
cream,"  made  of  snow  brought  from  the  Nevada  of 
Chillihua  on  the  backs  of  llamas,  was  on  the  menu. 
There  was  enough  food  and  drink  to  last  until 
2.30  A.  M.  Unfortunately  I  had  to  leave  early  for 
I  was  simply  used  up  with  the  amount  of  "enter- 
tainment" that  I  had  had  to  undergo  during  the 
preceding  week. 

Our  hosts  came  to  call  rather  late  the  next  morn- 
ing and  looked  pretty  mournful.  It  was  not  due 
entirely  to  the  fact  of  the  pouring  rain.  Neverthe- 
less the  sub-Prefect  was  most  kind,  and  had  us 
take  all  our  meals  at  his  house,  a  picturesque  old 
compound  whose  large  patio  was  surrounded  by 
one  and  two-storied  buildings.  The  roofs,  with  their 
heavy  old-fashioned  mission  tiles,  had  long  ago 
lost  any  straight  line  they  ever  possessed.  To  add 
to  their  beauty,  rain  and  sun  and  mosses  had  given 
them  every  variety  of  color.  In  a  corner  of  the 
patio,  an  Indian  man-servant  and  a  little  girl  were 


332  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

busy  grinding  meal  by  rocking  one  stone  upon 
another  in  the  same  fashion  as  did  the  builders  of 
Choqquequirau  and  with  stones  almost  the  exact 
counterparts  of  those  we  found  there. . 

In  the  afternoon,  our  friends  felt  a  little  better, 
and  the  rain  held  up  enough  for  us  to  be  shown  the 
sights  of  the  town.  A  well-proportioned  stone 
church,  designed  by  the  same  architect  who  had 
built  the  bridge  near  Abancay,  testified  again  to 
the  excellent  crafts  that  the  Jesuits  taught  in  this 
country  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  Some  of 
the  booths  on  the  plaza  were  extremely  picturesque, 
the  various  colored  wares  offered  for  sale  being  pro- 
tected from  the  sun  by  umbrella-shaped  shelters 
rudely  made  from  old  sticks  covered  with  faded 
ponchos  or  with  the  dried  skins  of  animals,  cured 
with  the  hair  on. 

Some  one  with  a  great  fondness  for  Lombardy 
poplars  had  lived  here  years  ago  and  the  view  of 
the  town  which  we  got  from  the  heights  across  the 
river  was  most  attractive.  On  the  side  of  a  moun- 
tain to  the  north  were  many  farms.  The  fields  of 
corn  divided  from  each  other  by  hedges  gave  a  very 
pleasing  background ;  the  roaring  rapids  of  the  little 
river  formed  the  foreground;  while  in  the  middle 
distance  the  red-tiled  roofs,  white  walls,  poplar  trees, 
and  fine  old  stone  church  made  a  charming  picture. 

The  sub-Prefect  and  his  secretary,  who  had  most 
generously  placed  his  own  very  comfortable  quarters 
at  our  disposal,  took  great  pleasure  in  showing  us 
two  new  alamedas  or  avenues  which  had  been  laid 
out  recently  under  his  direction.    It  is  pleasant  to 


ABANCAY  TO  CHINCHEROS         333 

remember  these  signs  of  progress  even  though  we 
also  remember  a  little  old  street  through  which  we 
had  to  pass  after  leaving  the  alameda.  The  old 
street,  scarcely  as  wide  as  the  sidewalks  of  the  new, 
had  no  conveniences  whatsoever  for  foot-passengers. 
Owing  to  the  recent  downpour,  part  of  it  had  been 
converted  into  a  pond,  and  we  had  an  amusing  and 
not  altogether  successful  time  getting  across  dry- 
shod. 

All  our  friends  promised  to  be  on  hand  the  next 
morning  to  accompany  us  out  of  town  although  we 
assured  them  that  it  was  quite  unnecessary.  When 
they  woke  up  and  saw  the  rain  coming  down  in 
sheets,  they  decided  we  were  right.  The  sub-Pre- 
fect came  through  the  downpour  to  bid  us  good-by, 
but  was  still  suffering  from  dyspepsia  and  excused 
himself  for  not  mounting  his  horse.  By  his  orders, 
the  Gobernador  of  the  neighboring  town  of  Tala- 
vera,  through  which  we  passed  half  an  hour  after 
leaving  Andahuaylas,  accompanied  us  on  our  way. 

Talavera  is  noted  for  the  manufacture  of  the 
finest  grade  of  Vicuna  ponchos.  Mr.  Squier  gave 
it  a  bad  name  and  was  impressed  by  the  evil  looks 
of  its  inhabitants,  but  we  saw  nothing  to  differenti- 
ate it  from  the  other  crowded  little  towns  of  the 
interior.  Wherever  possible,  the  land  is  occupied. 
There  is,  in  fact,  very  little  evidence  that  there  was 
a  much  larger  population  in  Peru  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Spanish  conquerors.  Although  it  is  true  that 
some  of  the  irrigating  ditches  have  been  destroyed, 
it  does  not  seem  likely  that  this  region  could  ever 
have  supported  a  much  more  numerous  population 


334  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

than  lives  here  to-day.  Those  writers  who  believe 
that  the  Peruvian  Indians  were  reduced  "from 
upwards  of  thirty  millions  to  three  millions  within 
the  space  of  two  centuries,"  must  have  forgotten 
to  make  allowances  for  the  fondness  for  exaggera- 
tion in  the  Spanish  chronicles.  The  country  is 
actually  as  crowded  to-day  as  its  resources  will 
allow.  In  fact,  most  of  the  Indians  are  half  starved 
all  the  time.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  twice  as 
many,  to  say  nothing  of  ten  times  as  many  Indians, 
could  find  support  on  these  bleak  highlands,  even 
when  they  were  forced  to  practice  an  extensive  cul- 
tivation of  the  soil  by  Inca  laws  and  usages,  which 
provided  for  almost  every  action  of  their  lives. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  have  been  reading  Prof. 
Bandelier's  remarkable  book,  "The  Islands  of 
Titicaca  and  Koati,"  and  am  glad  to  notice  that  he 
says,  p.  27:  "The  conclusion  is  reached  that  the 
Indian  population,  of  that  district  (Chucuito)  at 
least,  has  not  at  all  diminished  since  the  early  times 
of  Spanish  colonization,  but  has  rather  increased. 
It  shows  how  unjustified  is  the  hue  and  cry  about 
extermination  of  the  natives  of  Peru  by  the  Span- 
iards. I  could  easily  furnish  more  examples  of  the 
kind  from  all  over  Peru  and  Bolivia." 

It  is  pleasant  to  have  my  amateurish  opinions 
substantiated  so  unexpectedly  and  from  such  a  high 
authority. 

In  the  valleys  above  Talavera  there  was  abundant 
pasturage  and  we  saw  many  flocks  of  sheep  and 
herds  of  cattle.  Some  of  the  sheep  had  very  long 
curly  horns,  reminding  one  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 


ABANCAY  TO   CHINCHEROS  335 

goats,  while  others  were  distinguished  by  having 
four  horns  instead  of  two.  From  Talavera  the  road 
turned  northward  and  followed  for  some  distance 
the  valley  of  the  Andahuaylas  River,  then  crossed 
it  and  climbed  out  of  the  valley,  passed  the  ruins  of 
a  tambo  at  a  place  called  Monobamba,  and  sur- 
mouted  an  exceedingly  bleak  plateau,  a  veritable 
paramo  bravo  where  the  barometer  showed  an  eleva- 
tion of  14,500  feet.  The  neighboring  hills,  the  sum- 
mits of  the  Andes,  were  covered  with  snow.  More 
snow  began  to  fall  before  we  left  the  paramo. 

The  descent  to  Chincheros  was  particularly  diffi- 
cult owing  to  the  fact  that  a  little  mountain  torrent, 
usually  easy  to  ford,  had  become  very  much  swollen. 
Furthermore,  the  mud  was  so  deep  in  places  that 
we  should  have  found  it  impossible  to  proceed  had 
it  not  been  for  our  excellent  guide,  the  Gobernador 
of  Talavera,  who  knew  how  to  avoid  the  worst 
places  and  was  able  to  pilot  us  across  stretches  of 
treacherous  pasture-land  where  the  soggy  soil  barely 
sustained  the  weight  of  our  animals. 

It  was  a  long  forty-mile  ride.  The  Gobernador  of 
Chincheros,  who  had  come  out,  with  a  dozen  of  his 
friends,  to  meet  us  two  miles  from  his  town,  had 
been  waiting  in  the  shelter  of  a  hut  for  more  than 
an  hour  before  we  appeared.  Nevertheless  our 
tardy  arrival  in  no  wise  interfered  with  their  wel- 
come, and  the  long  wait  had  not  even  induced  them 
to  make  any  lighter  the  load  of  the  Indian  servant 
who  had  brought  on  foot  a  basket-load  of  bottled 
beer  and  coiiac.  We  had  learned  by  this  time,  from 
sad  experience,  that  our  stomachs,  well  emptied 


336  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

by  a  long  day  in  the  saddle,  would  rebel  at  being 
treated  to  fire-water  even  though  it  was  "the  cus- 
tom of  the  country."  Although  a  refusal  would 
have  been  misunderstood,  no  objection  was  offered 
to  the  fact  that  we  merely  touched  the  fiery  draft 
and  did  not  drain  the  glass.  With  the  kindly  escort 
was  an  officer  who  had  been  sent  all  the  way  from 
Ayacucho  bearing  a  letter  of  welcome  from  the 
Prefect  of  that  department,  with  orders  to  attend 
to  our  comforts  on  the  way.  We  felt  as  though  we 
were  in  the  hands  of  our  friends,  but  at  the  same 
time  we  were  not  prepared  for  what  was  to  follow. 
After  paddling  painfully  along  for  a  mile  or  so 
through  awful  mud  and  slush,  we  came  to  a  road- 
side inn  whose  proprietor  had  stretched  a  line  of 
flags  across  the  road  and  erected  a  primitive  frame- 
work for  them.  As  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  we 
did  not  tarry  long  to  return  his  courteous  greetings 
but  trotted  on  down  the  valley.  A  sudden  turn  in 
the  road  brought  us  into  view  of  a  charmingly  situ- 
ated town.  Deep  green  valleys,  high  mountains, 
and  pleasant  trees  gave  a  fine  setting  to  picturesque 
Chincheros  with  its  little  old  church  and  its  red- 
tiled  roofed  houses.  We  had  to  cross  a  stone  bridge 
just  before  entering  the  town,  and  here  we  were  met 
by  an  Indian  bearing  on  a  pole  an  enormous  flag. 
Although  it  had  less  than  twenty  stars  and  only 
eight  stripes,  it  was  unmistakably  intended  to  be 
"Old  Glory."  Welcoming  us  with  a  loud  shout, 
the  bearer  turned  about  and  marched  at  the  head 
of  our  cavalcade.  Flags  fluttered  from  every  house. 
The  streets  were  thronged  with  people,  many  of 


ABANCAY  TO   CHINCHEROS         337 

whom  showered  us  with  rose-leaves!  As  we  entered 
the  plaza,  the  church  bells,  which  had  been  ringing 
ever  since  we  rounded  the  turn  in  the  road,  re- 
doubled their  noise;  the  shouts  increased,  and  we 
were  almost  carried  from  our  horses  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  crowd.  We  realized  perfectly  the  spirit 
with  which  our  arrival  was  celebrated,  and  knew 
that  it  was  merely  an  expression  of  cordial  good- 
will toward  the  United  States,  arising  from  a  mis- 
taken idea  that  we  were  the  official  personification 
of  that  great  country;  but  it  was  all  we  could  do 
to  keep  our  faces  straight. 

After  we  were  finally  lodged  in  a  comfortable  room 
belonging  to  the  little  local  club,  we  thought  the 
crowd  would  disperse.  Not  at  all.  Nothing  would 
satisfy  them  but  that  one  of  us  should  make  a 
speech  which,  however  feebly  delivered,  was  re- 
ceived with  great  enthusiasm.  More  rose-petals 
were  thrown,  the  bells  were  rung  again,  the  flags 
waved,  the  people  cheered,  and  we  were  made  to 
know  what  it  must  be  like  to  be  a  returning  military 
chief  and  to  hear  the  band  play  "  Lo  the  Conquering 
Hero  Comes!" 

The  little  group  of  Chincherenos,  whose  public 
spirit  had  established  the  club,  tendered  us  a  ban- 
quet that  evening.  They  had  determined  to  outdo 
the  celebrations  which  they  had  heard  of  as  taking 
place  in  Abancay  and  Andahuaylas,  but  they  in- 
sisted that  the  outside  celebration  was  quite  spon- 
taneous, and  that  the  Indians  had  taken  it  into  their 
own  heads  to  improve  on  that  which  the  club  had 
planned.  After  the  banquet  that  evening,  there  was 


338  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

a  display  of  fireworks  consisting  of  a  set  piece  fixed 
to  a  pole  which  was  held  by  a  poor  Indian  who  did 
not  seem  to  mind  in  the  least  the  shower  of  sparks 
that  fell  on  every  side.  To  prolong  his  danger,  the 
rain  kept  putting  out  the  fuse  so  that  it  had  to  be 
lighted  six  or  seven  times.  If  he  felt  any  pain,  how- 
ever, he  failed  to  show  it,  and  seemed  only  too  de- 
lighted to  be  the  centre  of  attraction. 

The  celebration  had  a  strange  witness.  In  the 
crowd  that  welcomed  us  near  the  bridge  there  was 
a  haggard  man  with  German  features  who  called  out 
in  English,  "Hurrah  for  the  United  States ! "  He  soon 
came  to  call  on  us  and  told  quite  a  tragic  story. 

He  said  his  name  was  Emillo  Smith  (or  Schmidt) 
and  that  his  home  was  in  Diisseldorf  on  the  Rhine. 
With  three  companions,  he  had  made  a  wager  in 
New  York  that  they  Could  walk  from  Buenos  Aires 
across  both  continents  to  New  York  City  without 
funds  and  without  begging.  He  said  that  the  New 
York  "  Herald  "  and  the  Buenos  Aires  "La  Prensa" 
had  offered  a  prize  of  five  thousand  dollars,  if  they 
would  accomplish  the  feat.  They  had  had  no  partic- 
ular difficulty  in  crossing  Argentina,  but  one  of  them 
succumbed  at  Tupiza  soon  after  they  reached 
Bolivia.  Nothing  daunted,  the  other  three  pressed 
on  over  much  the  same  road  that  we  had  followed 
from  Tupiza  to  Potosi  and  thence  direct  to  the 
Antofagasta  railway.  At  each  place  they  had 
secured  the  signature  of  official  witnesses  to  the 
effect  that  they  were  not  riding  and  were  not  beg- 
ging but  were  conducting  their  overland  tramp 
fairly.    They  raised  money  by  giving  lectures  and 


ABANCAY  TO  CHINCHEROS         339 

entertainments  in  the  towns  through  which  they 
passed,  and  had  frequently  been  given  food  and  lodg- 
ing by  kindly  disposed  Indians,  although  often  they 
had  been  very  rudely  received.  They  had  walked 
around  Lake  Titicaca,  and  had  reached  Cuzco, 
followed  the  old  trail  to  Lima,  walked  up  the  coast, 
and  penetrated  the  equatorial  rain-belt  in  Ecuador 
before  disaster  overtook  them.  Weakened  by  months 
of  exposure,  they  were  in  no  condition  to  encounter 
tropical  fevers,  and  all  were  soon  flat  on  their  backs. 
Two  of  them  never  recovered  and  were  buried  in 
Ecuador.  Smith,  now  alone,  cabled  to  the  New  York 
"  Herald  "  for  instructions,  stating  that  he  was  too 
weak  to  continue  the  journey  alone,  and  had  no 
funds.  The  answer  came  back:  "Return  to  Buenos 
Aires."  Although  he  had  been  dismayed  by  the 
difficulties  that  lay  ahead  of  him  in  Ecuador  and 
Colombia,  he  knew  enough  of  the  road  over  which 
he  had  come  to  believe  that  he  could  safely  get  back 
to  Buenos  Aires  and  that  then  the  "  Herald  "  and  the 
"  Prensa"  would  probably  reward  him  for  his  fool- 
hardy excursion.  Accordingly,  he  was  retracing  his 
steps,  and  had  reached  Chincheros  that  noon.  He 
had  intended  to  go  along  further  in  the  afternoon, 
but  hearing  of  the  expected  arrival  of  two  Ameri- 
cans, and  being  invited  to  the  banquet,  he  had  stayed 
over. 

It  was  a  dismal  story  that  he  told,  but  he  took 
great  pride  in  it,  and  his  eyes  flashed  as  he  recounted 
his  exploits.  The  only  bitter  in  the  sweet  was  that 
he  had  lost  his  friends,  and  that  we  had  not  heard 
of  him. 


340  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

"What,  you  don't  know  about  me?  Why,  I  am 
the  foot-walker.  I  go  from  Buenos  Aires  to  New 
York.  I  don't  get  there.  I  go  back  to  Buenos  Aires. 
You  haven't  heard  of  me?  You  haven't  heard  of 
me,  Emilio  Smith,  the  foot-walker?  That  is  very 
strange.  And  the  Prefect  of  Abancay?  He  is  a  good 
fellow.  Didn't  he  tell  you  about  me?  Didn't  he 
show  you  my  picture?  My  picture  of  me  and  my 
two  friends?" 

I  think  he  felt  that  we  really  hadn't  been  to 
Abancay  after  all.  Poor  fellow,  living  for  months 
on  the  narration  of  his  exploits,  it  was  a  hard  pill 
for  him  to  swallow  that  the  only  Americans  he  had 
seen  who  had  come  over  the  road  where  he  had 
passed  several  months  before,  had  never  heard  any 
mention  made  of  his  overland  journey.  The  reason 
was  not  far  to  seek.  He  travelled  on  foot.  No  one 
but  an  Indian  travels  on  foot.  It  is  perfectly  incon- 
ceivable to  the  Spanish  mind  that  any  one  should 
do  any  feat  of  pedestrlanism  unless  compelled  to, 
either  by  poverty  or  the  instincts  of  a  vagabond. 
Poor  people  and  vagabonds  are  too  common  to 
attract  much  attention.  W^e  never  heard  of  him 
again.   He  left  early  the  next  morning. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

BOMBON  TO  THE   BATTLEFIELD   OF  AYACUCHO 

THE  next  morning  we  were  furnished  fresh 
horses  by  our  kind  hosts,  and  accompanied 
by  five  or  six  of  them,  climbed  out  of  the  beautiful 
valley  of  Chincheros  up  to  the  heights  of  Bombon 
overlooking  the  river  Pampas.  Here  in  1824,  the 
patriot  forces  under  General  Sucre,  marching  along 
this  road  to  Lima,  encountered  the  Royalists  under 
La  Serna,  trying  to  cut  off  their  retreat.  The  ad- 
vance guard  of  each  army  met  on  the  20th  of  No- 
vember on  the  heights  of  Bombon.  The  Royalists 
were  driven  down  into  the  valley  and  across  the 
river  Pampas. 

After  reaching  the  level  of  the  river,  our  path 
followed  the  Pampas,  down  stream,  in  a  northerly 
direction,  for  some  distance  among  groves  of  mi- 
mosa trees  and  cacti.  This  is  a  famous  place  for 
mosquitoes,  and  there  is  said  to  be  a  great  deal  of 
malaria  in  the  vicinity.  The  altitude  is  slightly  over 
six  thousand  feet. 

My  interest  In  the  Pampas  valley  was  consider- 
ably increased  by  finding  the  trees  and  cacti  cov- 
ered with  white  land  shells,  some  of  them  reminding 
me  of  those  tree  shells  that  I  had  gathered  as  a  boy 
in  the  beautiful  valleys  of  the  Island  of  Oahu.  I 
filled  my  pockets,  and  later  spent  the  evening  clean- 


342  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

ing  the  shells,  much  to  the  amusement  of  my  hosts. 
My  labor  was  amply  rewarded  by  finding,  after 
reaching  home,  that  among  the  shells  were  three 
new  species  which  Dr.  Dall,  the  Curator  of  the 
Division  of  Mollusks  in  the  United  States  National 
Museum,  has  named  and  described.^ 

The  bridge  over  the  Pampas  has  long  attracted 
the  notice  of  travellers.  The  approach  to  it  is  at 
the  foot  of  perpendicular  cliffs.  The  surrounding 
scenery  although  not  so  imposing  as  that  of  the 
Apurimac  is  nevertheless  magnificent.  The  bridge 
is  about  150  feet  long,  and  at  the  time  of  my  visit, 
February,  1909,  was  50  feet  above  the  river.  There 
are  two  pictures  of  the  old  bridge  in  Mr.  Squier's 
book,  and  although  wire  rope  has  replaced  the  old 
cables  that  the  Incas  made  from  maguey  fibre,  it  is 
still  the  most  unwelcome  feature  of  the  road  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  mules. 

One  of  our  mules  simply  would  not  cross  the 
bridge.  No  amount  of  pushing  and  pulling,  beating 
and  shouting,  would  make  him  budge  an  inch. 
Finally  he  was  blindfolded  and  a  rope  tied  to  each 
front  leg.  His  hind  legs  were  tied  securely  together, 
to  prevent  him  from  kicking,  and  by  alternately 
pulling  the  ropes  attached  to  his  front  feet,  he  was 
forced  in  a  most  ignominious  manner  to  come  onto 
the  bridge  and  go  a  third  of  the  way  across.  Then 
the  ropes  were  loosened  and  the  blind  taken  off. 

1  "On  some  Land  Shells  Collected  by  Dr.  Hiram  Bingham,  in 
Peru";  Proceedings  of  the  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  xxxviii,  177-182.  The 
shells  "comprised  various  species  and  varieties  of  Bulimulus  and  a 
single  species  of  Clausilia."  The  latter  was  described  by  Dr.  H.  A. 
Pilsbry. 


THE    BRIDGE   OV) 


Zi  )F   AYACUCHO 


i't    RIVKR   PAMPAS 


BOMBON   TO   AYACUCHO  343 

We  expected  to  see  him  turn  and  bolt  for  the  nearest 
side  but  he  was  too  frightened  to  do  anything  of 
the  sort,  and  became  at  once  most  docile,  and  fin- 
ished the  trip  in  peace. 

He  was  not  the  only  one  who  did  not  like  the 
bridge.  The  priest  of  Chincheros,  who  had  been 
delayed  from  accompanying  us  by  the  arrival  of 
a  visiting  cleric  that  morning,  overtook  us  here. 
Although  a  sturdy  native  Indian,  he  was  rather 
portly  and  preferred  not  only  to  leave  to  some  one 
else  the  leading  across  of  his  mule,  but  even  to  have 
a  poor  Indian  bearer  give  him  his  shoulder  to  steady 
him  on  the  swaying  structure. 

From  the  other  end  of  the  bridge  we  ascended  the 
precipitous  cliff  by  a  narrow  winding  path  and  found 
ourselves  on  a  lofty  terrace  where  the  enterprising 
Parodi  Brothers  have  planted  waving  fields  of  sugar- 
cane. Here  we  were  met  by  the  Gobernador  of 
Tambillo  and  the  Parodis  who  escorted  us  to  their 
sugar  factory  at  Pajonal,  a  most  attractive  hacienda 
nestled  in  a  valley  at  the  foot  of  beetling  crags.  Our 
hosts  had  inherited  from  their  father  an  unusual 
stock  of  energy  and  skill.  Owing  to  his  efforts,  a 
good  irrigation  ditch  had  been  constructed  that 
furnished  the  canefields  with  an  abundant  supply 
of  water.  The  houses  were  in  good  repair  and  every- 
thing bore  the  marks  of  prosperity.  It  was  a  pleas- 
ure to  see  such  evidence  of  enterprise  and  energy 
in  this  wild  region.  One  brother,  who  ordinarily 
practices  medicine  in  Lima,  was  here  on  a  visit. 
Another  brother  is  being  educated  in  the  States. 

We  left  Pajonal  the  next  morning,  accompanied 


344  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

by  the  Gobernador  of  Tambillo,  a  very  agreeable 
person  of  German- Peruvian  descent.  From  Pajonal 
the  road  ascends  a  little  valley  and  then  climbs  a 
mountainside  to  the  village  of  Ocros,  a  most  forlorn 
and  wretched  place,  with  an  elevation  of  nearly  ten 
thousand  feet. 

The  adobe  church,  like  that  at  Chincheros,  was  set 
back  from  the  plaza,  and  had  a  new  adobe  wall 
around  it.  Earth  for  this  seemed  to  have  been 
taken  right  out  of  the  plaza.  No  attempt  had  been 
made  to  fill  up  the  huge  holes  that  remained.  The 
only  building  at  Ocros  that  seemed  to  be  in  any 
kind  of  repair  was  the  local  telegraph  office  where 
the  officer  from  Ayacucho  who  accompanied  us, 
went  to  send  a  despatch  to  the  Prefect. 

On  the  way  we  had  been  struck  by  the  extra- 
ordinary method  of  hanging  telegraph  wires  that 
prevails  in  this  country.  The  linesmen  had  thought 
nothing  of  planting  three  poles  together  on  the  top 
of  one  hill  and  the  next  three  not  less  than  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  away  on  the  top  of  another,  stretching 
their  wire  across  the  interv^ening  distance  in  mid- 
air. This  occurred  not  once  or  twice  but  whenever 
they  could  save  poles  by  so  doing.  The  strain  on 
the  wire  must  have  been  tremendous.  We  learned 
that  the  service  was  "frequently  interrupted." 

The  road  up  from  Ocros  was  the  worst  that  we 
encountered  anywhere.  It  was  really  the  bed  of  a 
mountain  stream  and  our  animals  had  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  picking  their  way  among  the  rocks  and 
boulders.  It  was  hard  to  imagine  that  this  was 
really  the  highway  between  Cuzco  and  Lima.   The 


BOMBON   TO   AYACUCHO  345 

"road"  grew  worse  and  worse  until  it  reached  a 
bleak  paramo  at  an  elevation  of  thirteen  thousand 
feet,  where  snow,  hail,  and  sleet,  driven  in  our  faces 
by  a  high  wind,  added  to  our  discomforts.  A  steep 
descent  on  the  other  side  of  the  range  greatly  tried 
the  patience  of  our  animals.  The  ground  seemed  to 
be  a  hard  clay  that  offered  no  support  to  their  feet 
and  they  slid  and  slipped,  sometimes  eight  or  ten 
feet  at  a  time,  without  being  able  to  stop.  Night 
was  falling  as  we  reached  the  little  collection  of 
wretched  huts  called  Matara.  No  one  seemed  to 
have  any  desire  to  receive  us.  In  fact,  the  Indian 
who  had  charge  of  the  only  dry  hut  in  the  place, 
locked  the  front  door  and  disappeared  into  the  night. 
Unlike  vigorous  Caceres,  who  would  sooner  have 
died  than  allow  an  inhospitable  Indian  to  refuse 
admission  to  the  foreigner  in  his  charge,  the  officer 
from  Ayacucho  was  a  timid  soul  who  had  gone 
through  the  world  bemoaning  his  ill  fortune  and 
doing  nothing  to  make  it  better.  He  could  think 
of  no  solution  of  the  problem  except  that  we  make 
ourselves  as  comfortable  as  possible  in  the  shelter 
of  a  kind  of  a  porch  in  front  of  this  thatched  hut. 
So  we  passed  an  exceedingly  uncomfortable  night 
and  experienced  some  of  the  hardships  that  the 
British  soldiers,  who  aided  the  patriot  army  in  that 
last  campaign  against  the  Spanish  viceroy,  must 
have  suffered  in  this  very  locality. 

The  next  morning  our  road  led  across  half  a 
dozen  deep  gulches  whose  streams  feed  the  river 
Colpahuayo.  In  one  of  these  I  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  find  in  a  gravel-bank  at  the  side  of  the  road,  which 


346  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

had  been  heavily  washed  by  recent  rains,  a  portion 
of  an  ancient  Inca  stone  war-club  shaped  like  a  huge 
doughnut. 

The  road  continued  to  be  extremely  slippery  and 
was  not  improved  by  the  almost  continuous  rain. 
At  half  past  two  we  reached  Tambillo.  Here  we 
were  welcomed  by  the  pleasant  wife  of  the  Gober- 
nador  who  had  ridden  ahead  to  have  a  good  break- 
fast prepared  while  we  had  waited  in  vain  on  a  hill- 
top hoping  the  rain  would  hold  up  sufficiently  to 
let  us  photograph  a  magnificent  panorama  that  in- 
cluded the  distant  city  of  Ayacucho  and  the  heights 
of  Condorkanqui  and  the  famous  battlefield. 

After  lunch  we  crossed  another  gulch  whose 
treacherous  sides  more  than  once  caused  our  mules 
to  fall  heavily.  In  the  village  of  Los  Neques,  we 
were  met  by  a  very  courteous  emissary  of  the  Pre- 
fect of  Ayacucho  who  turned  out  to  be  proprietor 
of  the  hotel.  He  had  been  sent  out  in  the  rain  to 
apologize  for  the  fact  that  there  was  no  commit- 
tee to  meet  us  and  to  explain  that  the  notables  had 
mounted  and  ridden  out  to  await  us  until  driven 
back  by  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  for  all  of 
which  we  were  duly  thankful,  as  it  meant  that  we 
had  escaped  the  necessity  of  hurting  anybody's 
feelings  by  declining  to  drink  more  copitas  of  brandy 
on  an  empty  stomach. 

Here  at  Los  Neques  the  Indians  were  getting 
ready  to  celebrate  the  days  of  Carnival  which  were 
soon  to  be  upon  us.  A  hundred  men  and  women 
had  gathered  in  the  courtyard  of  an  old  house. 
In  one  corner  a  red  cloth  shelter  had  been  erected 


THE  COURTYi" 


V^      v-'  t>> 


.*-l^ 


C  D 


<"    TFiK    IKi'l'lL 


BOMBON    TO   AYACUCHO  347 

under  which  sat  the  old  men  around  a  table  on 
which  was  scattered  popcorn,  roast  maize,  and 
dishes  of  succotash.  The  other  men  and  women 
squatted  on  the  ground  with  dishes  of  succotash 
and  bowls  of  chicha  in  front  of  them.  As  long  as  we 
looked  on,  all  was  orderly  and  quiet  except  that  two 
musicians  with  a  violin  and  a  primitive  old  harp 
were  endeavoring  to  cheer  them  up. 

Soon  after  dark,  in  a  pouring  rain,  we  passed  the 
high  walls  of  the  Ayacucho  cemetery,  clattered  over 
the  cobble-stones  of  the  narrow  streets,  entered  the 
plaza,  and  were  ushered  with  a  flourish  through  a 
stone  arch  into  the  courtyard  of  the  hotel.  Acting 
on  the  orders  of  the  Prefect,  the  proprietor  had  re- 
served for  our  use  an  enormous  parlor  or  reception 
room  where  at  least  forty  people  could  be  comfort- 
ably seated,  and  a  great  bedroom  of  nearly  the  same 
dimensions  in  which  were  four  large  bedsteads. 
Notwithstanding  the  attractiveness  of  the  hotel 
bedsteads,  such  is  the  perversity  of  human  nature 
that  I  decided  to  use  my  own  little  "Gold  Medal" 
folding  cot  that  had  served  me  faithfully  for  many 
weeks,  and  my  own  blankets  which,  as  they  were 
folded  up  every  morning  as  soon  as  I  arose  and  not 
unfolded  until  I  was  ready  to  sleep,  could  be  relied 
upon  to  be  free  from  fleas,  etc. 

The  plaza  of  Ayacucho  is  surrounded  on  three 
sides  with  private  houses  that  have  arcades  sup- 
ported by  stone  pillars.  The  ground  floors  are  taken 
up  with  shops,  while  over  the  arcades  are  balconies 
that  lead  to  the  principal  rooms  of  the  dwelling 
houses.  Our  hotel  had  been  once  occupied  by  one  of 


348  ACROSS   SOUTH    AMERICA 

the  principal  families  of  the  town  and  was  a  good 
specimen  of  the  old  Spanish  method  of  building. 
It  had  a  large  courtyard  from  which  a  flight  of 
stone  steps  led  up  to  the  galleries,  and  was  orna- 
mented by  potted  plants  and  caged  birds. 

Hardly  had  we  examined  our  rooms  when  we  re- 
ceived a  call  from  the  Prefect,  Don  Caspar  Mauro 
Cacho,  a  tall,  finely  proportioned  Peruvian  with  a 
remarkable  sense  of  humor  and  an  unfailing  store 
of  courtesy.  On  the  following  day  he  took  upon  him- 
self to  show  us  the  sights  of  the  town,  including  the 
fine  old  cathedral,  the  large  public  market,  clean 
and  well  kept,  the  picturesque  old  churches,  and  the 
Prefecture,  a  large  double  quadrangle  where  were 
located  the  offices  of  the  Department,  the  barracks 
of  the  few  troops  stationed  here,  and  the  rooms 
allotted  for  the  use  of  himself  and  his  family. 

His  wife  and  children  had  arrived  from  Lima  not 
many  months  previous,  and  the  terrors  of  the  over- 
land journey  were  vividly  in  their  minds.  His 
senora  assured  me  that  she  had  feared  she  would 
never  reach  Ayacucho  alive,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  government  had  made  every  possible 
provision  for  their  comfort  on  the  journey.  One  of 
the  "guides"  lost  his  way,  and  they  were  quartered 
at  an  abandoned  tambo  where  there  was  nothing  to 
eat  or  drink  and  no  firewood.  Having  lived  in  Lima 
all  their  lives,  they  felt  the  discomforts  keenly.  It 
was  an  interesting  commentary  on  the  state  of  the 
roads  that  even  a  Prefect  could  not  be  sure  that  his 
family  would  travel  with  a  moderate  degree  of  com- 
fort. 


AYACUCHO  349 

I  had  sometimes  felt  that  the  life  of  an  official  in 
Peru  was  as  easy  as  the  life  of  the  poor  Indians  was 
hard,  but  I  had  to  reverse  that  opinion  before  leav- 
ing the  country.  While  the  Prefects  are  appointed 
directly  by  the  President  and  are  responsible  only 
to  him,  they  are  likely  to  be  considered  troublesome 
by  the  local  magistrates  who,  although  elected  by 
the  citizens,  exercise  very  limited  prerogatives. 
Were  it  not  for  the  dozen  or  more  soldiers  that  take 
their  orders  directly  from  the  Prefect,  he  would 
often  be  in  a  precarious  position.  He  must  govern 
as  well  as  he  can,  and  yet  if  he  does  not  make  himself 
popular  with  the  people  of  the  city  in  which  he 
lives,  his  lot  is  not  at  all  an  easy  one.  With  such 
men  as  the  Prefects  whom  we  met  in  Arequipa, 
Abancay,  and  Ayacucho,  the  central  government 
is  fortunate  in  being  able  to  be  sure  that  the  power 
which  it  delegates  to  them  will  be  used  firmly  and 
wisely  and  without  causing  friction. 

This  city,  one  of  the  largest  in  Peru,  occupies  an 
excellent  central  situation  and  from  it  diverge  roads 
in  every  direction.  Yet  so  great  is  the  difficulty  of 
bringing  foreign  merchandise  over  these  mountain 
roads,  that  we  found  few  shops  here  of  any  import- 
ance, and  almost  all  seemed  to  be  owned  by  natives 
of  the  country.  The  streets  were  all  of  the  same  pat- 
tern, paved  with  rough  stones,  sloping,  not  away 
from  the  centre  as  with  us,  but  towards  the  centre, 
where  in  the  middle  there  is  invariably  a  ditch, 
practically  an  open  sewer.  For  those  walking  on 
the  sidewalk,  it  is  certainly  much  pleasanter  to  have 
this  ditch  in  the  middle  of  the  street. 


350  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

In  anticipation  of  the  joys  of  eating  and  drinking 
connected  with  Carnival,  Indian  women  with  huge 
cauldrons  of  chiipe  and  immense  jars  of  chicha  were 
preparing  to  take  up  all-night  stands,  sometimes  in 
the  centre  of  the  street  or  else  on  a  busy  corner  where 
they  would  be  sure  to  attract  trade.  The  effect  of 
the  women's  head-gear  was  most  curious.  It  was 
exactly  as  though  the  lady  had  found  her  shawl  a 
bit  too  warm  and  had  taken  it  off,  folded  it  into  a 
square,  and  proceeded  to  carry  it  on  her  head  for 
convenience.  We  went  through  one  old  crumbling 
archway,  attracted  by  some  beautiful  clay  jars,  and 
found  ourselves  in  a  backyard  that  would  have 
delighted  a  painter.  Not  all  painters,  but  the  kind 
that  loves  a  natural  combination  of  picturesque 
ruins,  fine  old  jars  tumbled  about  helter-skelter, 
dirty  little  Indian  children  in  dirtier  hats  and  pon- 
chos, very  much  too  big  for  them,  a  cat,  and  a  long- 
legged  pig  who  nosed  about  among  the  jars  trying 
to  see  which  one  contained  chicha  fit  to  gratify  his 
thirst. 

From  the  tower  of  one  of  the  oldest  churches  we 
secured  a  splendid  view  of  the  city  and  the  surround- 
ing country  including  nearly  the  entire  region  occu- 
pied by  the  forces  of  Sucre  and  La  Serna  in  the  week 
preceding  the  final  battle  of  Ayacucho. 

The  old  name  of  Ayacucho  was  Guamanga,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  a  Spanish  adaptation  of  the 
Inca  Huaman-ca  (Take  it.  Falcon),  a  name  that  was 
given  to  the  district  by  an  incident  that  followed  a 
fierce  battle  in  which  a  warlike  tribe  of  this  vicinity 
was  defeated  and  almost  annihilated  by  the  armies 


352  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

streets  were  narrow  and  not  in  particularly  good 
repair.  Suddenly  the  horses  of  our  guides  wheeled 
and  bolted  and  were  with  difficulty  kept  in  the  road. 
The  cause  was  a  characteristic  piece  of  carelessness 
on  the  part  of  somebody.  A  horse  had  recently  died 
and  his  thrifty  owner  had  at  once  skinned  him  to 
save  his  hide,  leaving  the  hideous  carcass  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  narrow  road.  It  was  necessary  to 
make  a  considerable  detour  through  the  neighboring 
fields,  for  none  of  our  animals  would  go  within  fifty 
feet  of  the  disgusting  spectacle. 

For  the  first  two  leagues  we  followed  the  regular 
road  to  Lima  and  the  north,  branching  off  when  we 
reached  the  ford  over  the  Pongora  River,  then  pass- 
ing through  several  small  plantations  and  near  two 
vineyards,  we  crossed  the  river  Yucaes  on  a  new 
suspension  bridge  and  climbed  the  face  of  a  steep 
cliff  by  a  zigzag  trail.  We  had  good  animals  and 
kept  them  going  at  a  comfortable  trot  so  that  we 
arrived  at  the  little  village  of  Quinua  in  three  and  a 
half  hours  after  leaving  Ayacucho. 

The  plaza  of  Quinua  is  surrounded  on  three  sides 
by  houses  and  ruins,  the  fourth  side  being  taken  up 
by  the  church.  Like  the  other  houses  in  the  vicinity, 
these  were  built  of  stone  and  earth  and  roofed  with 
red  tiles.  Many  of  the  roofs  had  been  allowed  to 
fall  into  decay,  and  the  house  which  was  pointed  out 
as  tlie  place  where  the  truce  was  signed  after  the 
battle,  and  where  the  Spanish  General  surrendered 
to  General  Sucre,  had  entirely  lost  its  covering. 

A  hasty  lunch  was  prepared  for  us  at  a  little  mud 
hut  called  a  tavern,  and  as  soon  after  as  possible  we 


AYACUCHO  353 

re-mounted  and  rode  north  for  half  a  mile  up  the 
face  of  a  little  hill  and  found  ourselves  on  the  plain 
where  was  fought  the  last  great  battle  of  the  South 
American  Wars  of  Independence.  A  monument, 
apparently  made  of  some  kind  of  plaster,  and  natu- 
rally in  a  very  bad  state  of  repair,  marked  the  centre 
of  the  plain.  Near  by  was  a  kind  of  shed  or  shelter 
for  the  horses,  and  a  little  to  the  westward  the  walls 
of  a  memorial  chapel  that  had  not  yet  been  com- 
pleted. North  of  the  plain  the  heights  of  Condor- 
kanqui  rise  abruptly.  A  new  road  had  recently  been 
constructed  over  them  to  the  warm  valleys  beyond, 
but  it  was  still  perfectly  possible  to  see  the  old 
trail  down  which  the  Spanish  troops  marched  in 
their  attack  on  the  patriots. 

The  altitude  of  the  field  is  nearly  eleven  thousand 
feet,  and  romantically  inclined  writers  have  some- 
times spoken  of  this  as  the '  *  battle  above  the  clouds." 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  had  considerable  difficulty 
in  taking  photographs  owing  to  the  low  hanging 
clouds  that  continually  swept  down  from  the  sum- 
mits of  Condorkanqui.  Fortunately  it  did  not  rain 
all  the  time. 

Few  battles  have  ever  been  fought  on  a  height 
that  offered  such  a  magnificent  view.  From  all  parts 
of  the  battlefield,  a  superb  panorama  is  spread  out 
to  the  east,  south,  and  west,  embracing  the  entire 
valley  of  Ayacucho. 

After  spending  the  afternoon  on  the  field,  we 
returned  to  the  little  tavern  where  the  evening 
passed  very  pleasantly  and  we  were  entertained  by 
the  Indian  villagers  who  were  celebrating  the  Car- 


354  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

nival.  They  came  In  throngs  bringing  us  parched 
corn,  popcorn,  and  chicha,  swearing  eternal  friend- 
ship, and  expressing  their  appreciation  that  we 
should  come  such  a  long  distance  to  see  their  famous 
battlefield.  The  village  appeared  to  be  divided  into 
three  wards,  and  the  alcalde  of  each  ward  was 
anxious  that  we  should  eat  and  drink  just  as  much  of 
his  offering  as  we  had  of  the  others. 

They  were  easily  satisfied,  however,  and  appeared 
to  be  having  a  very  good  time.  I  never  saw  Indians 
enjoy  themselves  more.  As  a  conclusion  to  the 
entertainment,  two  Indian  women  were  instructed 
to  sing  for  us.  Their  performance  consisted  in  a 
wailing  duet,  beginning  loud  and  high,  ascending 
with  a  powerful  crescendo  to  screeching  falsetto 
notes  and  then  gradually  descending  and  diminish- 
ing into  a  wheeze  like  a  very  old  parlor  organ  with 
leaky  bellows. 

We  spent  the  next  morning  photographing  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  battlefield  and  trying  to  get  a 
better  idea  of  the  reasons  for  Sucre's  victory.  I  was 
very  forcibly  impressed  by  the  skill  with  which  he 
had  chosen  his  position. 

The  little  plain,  really  a  plateau,  is  literally  sur- 
rounded by  ravines.  It  was  just  large  enough  to 
allow  Sucre  to  use  his  seven  or  eight  thousand  men 
to  the  best  advantage.  An  enemy  attacking  him 
must  perforce  come  up  hill  on  every  side,  even 
though  it  would  seem  as  though  the  Spanish  troops 
descending  from  Condorkanqui  would  have  had 
some  advantage.  But  they  were  under  fire  all  the 
time  they  were  descending  to  the  plain,  and  just 


t 


AYACUCHO  355 

before  they  reached  it,  they  found  themselves  in  a 
little  gully  up  the  sides  of  which  they  had  to  scram- 
ble at  a  disadvantage  before  they  could  actually 
be  on  a  level  with  the  defenders.  La  Serna  was  too 
good  a  general  not  to  have  appreciated  the  strength 
of  Sucre's  position.  In  fact,  as  General  Miller  points 
out,  the  mistake  of  the  Viceroy  in  attacking  orig- 
inated in  allowing  himself  to  be  over-persuaded  by 
the  eagerness  of  his  troops.  Their  patience  had  been 
exhausted  by  terrible  marches  which  seemed  to  them 
to  be  endless.  Only  a  few  days  before  the  battle, 
the  tents  of  the  Viceroy  and  his  chief  general  had 
had  lampoons  pasted  on  them,  accusing  them  of 
cowardice.  It  may  fairly  be  said  that  he  was  goaded 
into  action  contrary  to  his  own  judgment. 

The  battle  of  Ayacucho,  besides  being  the  final 
combat,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  in  the  history 
of  the  Wars  of  Independence.  The  troops  on  both 
sides  were  well-seasoned  veterans.  The  generals  in 
command  were  among  the  ablest  that  the  long  wars 
had  developed.  Every  man  fought  with  bravery. 
Although  the  Patriots  were  outnumbered,  they 
made  up  for  it  by  enthusiasm  and  by  a  knowledge 
that  there  was  no  opportunity  for  them  to  retreat. 
They  were  aided  by  the  lay  of  the  land,  but  the 
result  was  due  to  a  most  determined  valor  and  a 
heroic  daring  that  must  always  gratify  lovers  of 
Peruvian  history. 

We  returned  to  the  city  in  the  middle  of  the  after- 
noon in  time  to  take  a  little  walk  in  the  streets  and 
be  bombarded  by  little  Carnival  balloons  filled  with 
scented  water,  egg-shells  filled  with  colored  powder, 


356  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

and  the  other  missiles  that  are  commonly  employed 
to  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  Lent  is  approaching. 
The  ladies  and  children,  who  occupied  points  of 
vantage  in  the  second-story  windows,  kept  up  a 
brisk  fire  on  everyone  who  ventured  along  the 
streets,  and  we  had  to  do  some  very  rapid  dodging 
to  avoid  being  entirely  soaked  and  colored  with  all 
the  hues  of  the  rainbow. 

In  the  evening,  notwithstanding  a  terrific  down- 
pour of  rain,  the  "society  of  Ayacucho,"  including 
the  Archbishop,  the  Prefect,  and  fifty  or  sixty  of 
their  friends,  "tendered  us"  an  elaborate  banquet 
which  quite  took  the  palm  for  variety  of  food  and 
drink.  There  were  no  less  than  fourteen  courses 
besides  seven  kinds  of  wine  including  champagne. 
The  after-dinner  speeches  were  also  quite  remark- 
able. Hitherto,  the  chief  interest  in  us  had  been  the 
fact  that  we  had  "visited  the  lost  city  of  Choqque- 
quirau,"  but  here  Choqquequirau  meant  little  or 
nothing.  The  battlefield  of  Ayacucho  meant  every- 
thing, and  the  fact  that  we  were  delegados  from  a 
country  whose  aid  Peru  hoped  to  receive  in  case 
Chile  became  troublesome  meant  a  great  deal  more. 
Whether  it  was  at  this  banquet  or  at  one  of  those 
that  preceded  it  in  the  past  three  weeks,  I  do  not 
remember,  but  the  opinion  was  expressed  more  than 
once  that,  rather  than  have  another  war  with  Chile, 
they  would  surrender  to  the  United  States  and  be- 
come a  protectorate.  I  mention  this  not  as  an 
indication  of  national  sentiment,  but  merely  to 
show  the  state  of  feeling  that  prevailed  in  the 
interior  of  Peru  at  the  time,  and  the  attitude  with 


AYACUCHO  357 

which  they  regarded  the  possibility  of  another  war 
with  Chile. 

A  large  part  of  the  hatred  that  exists  between 
Chilean  and  Peruvian  is  due  to  their  native  ances- 
try. In  the  Chilean  there  is  a  large  percentage  of 
Araucanian  blood.  In  the  Peruvian  there  is  as  much 
of  the  blood  of  the  Quichuas.  The  Araucanians  are 
the  hereditary  foes  of  the  Quichuas.  For  centuries 
there  was  no  peace  between  them.  The  Incas  pushed 
their  army  of  Quichuas  as  far  south  as  possible,  but 
they  never  could  conquer  the  lands  where  the 
Araucanians  roved.  Even  the  all-conquering  Span- 
ish soldiers  were  blocked  in  southern  Chile.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  repeat  here  the  long  story  of  the 
Araucanian  wars  and  the  heroic  deeds  of  Lautaro 
and  his  kinsmen.  Instead  of  being  easily  conquered 
by  the  handful  of  Spanish  adventurers  as  were  the 
Incas  and  Quichuas,  the  Araucanians  kept  the  Span- 
iards at  bay  for  centuries,  and  were  in  fact  never 
subdued. 

The  Araucanians  and  the  Quichuas  had  as  differ- 
ent racial  characteristics  as  can  be  imagined.  Al- 
though the  Araucanians  did  not  constitute  a  nation 
in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word  but  were  divided 
into  a  large  number  of  clans,  each  independent  and 
recognizing  no  master,  they  never  allowed  any  out- 
side people  to  interfere  with  their  national  life. 
They  were  intensely  Independent.  Even  the  chiefs 
lacked  authority  in  time  of  peace.  There  were  no 
serfs  or  slaves.  More  important  still,  there  were 
no  laws ;  private  wrongs  had  to  be  settled  privately. 
All  of  these  elements  must  be  taken  into  consldera- 


358  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

tion  when  contemplating  the  character  of  the 
Chilean  of  to-day.  His  Spanish  ancestors  brooked 
no  interference  and  recognized  no  central  govern- 
ment, but  his  Araucanian  forebears  were  still  more 
intensely  fond  of  individual  liberty.  His  Spanish 
ancestors  were  brave  and  fearless.  No  better  sol- 
diers existed  in  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  Araucanians  were  even  more  warlike,  and  after 
their  first  few  defeats  by  the  invaders,  they  success- 
fully assumed  the  offensive,  storming  Spanish  towns 
and  carrying  off  cattle  and  horses.  They  organized 
troops  of  cavalry,  learning  to  excel  on  an  animal 
that  their  fathers  had  never  heard  of,  and  which  the 
Quichuas  even  now  rarely  dare  to  mount.  The 
entire  Araucanian  nation  was  less  numerous  than 
the  army  of  Quichuas  that  surrounded  Atahualpa 
when  he  was  successfully  attacked  by  Pizarro,  yet 
they  killed  more  Spanish  soldiers  than  fell  in  the 
conquest  of  the  entire  remainder  of  the  continent. 
With  such  an  ancestry,  it  is  not  remarkable  that 
the  Chileans  are  notoriously  the  best  fighters  on  the 
continent  to-day.  Contrast  their  inheritance  with 
that  of  the  Peruvians. 

The  Quichuas  were  and  are  a  timid,  peaceful  folk 
lacking  in  dignity,  defending  themselves  rather  with 
cunning  and  falsehood  than  by  deeds  of  arms.  The 
servile  sentiment  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  Quichua 
nature.  He  maintains  a  sense  of  loyalty  for  his 
former  masters,  but  he  has  absolutely  no  idea  of 
liberty  or  independence.  The  Quichuas  had  reached 
a  higher  state  of  culture  than  the  Araucanians  but 
their  manly  characteristics  were  far  less  developed. 


AYACUCHO  359 

In  fact,  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest,  they 
seem  to  have  been  already  in  a  decadent  condition. 
With  such  blood  in  their  veins,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  Peruvians  were  easily  defeated  by  the  Chile- 
ans, their  country  overrun  and  humiliated,  their 
valuable  nitrate  fields  seized,  and  the  seeds  of  intense 
national  hatred  planted  that  will  take  generations 
to  eradicate. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

AYACUCHO   TO   LIMA 

EVERY  one  had  told  us  that  it  would  be  "abso- 
lutely impossible"  to  leave  Ayacucho  until 
two  or  three  days  had  elapsed  after  the  end  of  the 
Carnival.  Possibly  because  we  were  a  trifle  home- 
sick, and  possibly  because  we  had  been  assured  so 
positively  that  it  could  not  be  done,  we  determined 
to  try  to  leave  Ayacucho  on  the  last  day  of  the  three 
devoted  to  Carnival.  I  must  confess  that  it  was 
rather  cruel,  not  only  to  the  two  soldiers  who  were 
ordered  to  accompany  us,  but  also  the  arriero  who 
was  informed  that  he  must  provide  us  with  mules 
and  go  when  we  were  ready  to  start.  The  morning 
was  spent  in  a  great  row  over  the  mules  and  the  ques- 
tion as  to  how  far  they  were  to  go  with  us,  in  w  hich 
many  tears  were  shed  by  drunken  Indian  women 
who  declared  that  they  were  sure  they  would  never 
see  their  husbands  or  animals  back  again.  If  it  had 
not  been  for  the  Prefect's  willingness  to  help  us,  we 
could  never  have  persuaded  any  one  to  go,  but  he 
did  his  part  splendidly.  We  at  length  got  off  just 
at  noon.  The  Prefect  and  his  friends,  to  the  number 
of  fourteen,  escorted  us  for  the  first  league  out  of  the 
city.  Then  we  bade  them  an  affectionate  farewell 
and  started  off  on  the  last  stage  of  our  journey, 
determined,  if  possible,  to  travel  henceforth  as  much 


AYACUCHO  TO  LIMA  361 

like  private  citizens  as  we  could.  To  be  sure,  we 
had  our  little  military  escort.  Without  them  we 
should  have  found  it  almost  impossible  to  proceed 
at  all  for  the  next  few  days.  Our  first  two  leagues 
were  over  the  same  road  which  we  had  used  in  going 
to  Quinua,  then,  instead  of  fording  the  river,  we 
kept  on  its  left  bank  until  we  reached  a  shaky  sus- 
pension bridge.  Its  floor  was  made  of  loose  planks 
that  were  so  easily  misplaced  by  the  mules  that  Hay 
declared  he  had  to  set  them  all  over  again  after  I 
had  passed  in  order  to  avoid  falling  into  the  river. 

We  met  on  the  road  many  Indians,  celebrating 
Carnival,  marching  along  gayly,  beating  primitive 
little  drums  and  blowing  on  bamboo-fifes.  They 
stopped  at  almost  every  house  they  passed,  shouting 
and  hullabalooing  and  getting  a  few  drinks  of 
chicha. 

As  we  were  crossing  the  rocky  bed  of  a  little 
stream  we  met  an  itinerant  musician,  a  blind  harpist, 
who  was  being  helped  across  by  a  friend.  His  harp 
was  very  curious,  being  a  wooden  box  shaped  like 
half  a  cone  with  two  wooden  legs  tacked  into  its 
base,  and  two  eye-holes  on  the  flat  side  which  made 
it  look  very  much  like  some  dwarfish  animal.  With 
great  difficulty  we  tried  to  persuade  him  to  set  up 
his  harp  in  the  dry  bed  of  the  stream  and  play  us  a 
tune  while  we  took  his  picture.  Not  having  the 
slightest  conception  of  what  we  were  trying  to  do, 
the  poor  blind  musician  was  rather  frightened,  and 
as  he  understood  no  Spanish  whatever,  we  should 
not  have  succeeded  had  it  not  been  for  the  kind 
offices  of  a  pleasant-faced  mestizo  family  party  who 


362  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

were  picnicking  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  and  who 
translated  our  poor  Spanish  into  Quichua.  In  the 
evening  we  reached  Huanta,  an  historic  little  town 
where  savage  Indian  tribes  from  the  Amazonian 
forests  have  frequently  come  into  collision  with 
armed  Peruvian  forces.  Although  we  hoped  to  be 
able  to  slip  into  town  unnoticed,  we  were  met,  a 
mile  out,  by  the  usual  dozen  of  hospitably  inclined 
caballeros  who,  with  the  Gobernador  at  their  head, 
had  been  "celebrating"  for  the  past  two  or  three 
days.  We  were  by  this  time  so  fatigued  by  the  labors 
of  crossing  Peru  in  the  wet  season,  that  we  found 
it  very  difficult  to  be  as  polite  as  w-e  were  expected 
to  be  to  the  reception  committees  that  had  been  our 
lot  hitherto.  However,  in  this  case,  to  put  it  bluntly, 
the  Gobernador  was  very  drunk,  which  m.ade  him 
only  the  more  friendly,  and  he  insisted  that  we  were 
two  "princes  of  America,"  and  that  his  house  would 
be  everlastingly  famous  in  history  as  having  been 
the  place  where  we  stayed ! 

His  wife  and  daughters  behaved  splendidly. 
They  seemed  to  realize  that  we  knew  it  was  custom- 
ary for  all  the  men  to  get  drunk  at  this  season  of  the 
year.  At  the  same  time  they  did  their  best  to  make 
us  comfortable  and  to  see  that  the  male  members 
of  the  family  did  not  annoy  us  any  more  than  they 
could  help. 

Naturally,  the  "morning  after"  was  a  sad  occa- 
sion, and  had  it  not  been  for  our  excellent  soldiers, 
who  had  gone  to  bed  sober,  it  would  have  been  very 
difficult  to  have  persuaded  our  hosts  to  let  us  go. 
The  Gobernador  was  extremely  cross.    He  had  for- 


AYACUCHO  TO  LIMA  363 

gotten  all  about  our  princely  lineage,  and  only  re- 
membered to  charge  us  treble  for  everything  he 
could  think  of.  Although  we  had  gotten  up  at  five 
o'clock,  no  Indians  sober  enough  to  act  as  guides 
could  be  found  for  several  hours,  and  it  was  after 
ten  before  we  finally  left  Huanta. 

The  son  of  the  Gobernador  was  the  only  person 
who  had  energy  enough,  or  had  sufficiently  recovered 
from  the  debauch  of  the  night  before,  to  do  us  the 
honor  of  escorting  us  out  of  town.  This  had  come  to 
be  such  a  regular  feature  of  our  travels  since  leaving 
Cuzco  that  we  always  looked  forward  with  curi- 
osity to  see  what  would  happen.  This  young  fellow 
was  very  polite  and  went  with  us  as  far  as  the  en- 
trance of  the  local  cemetery,  a  bizarre  white-washed 
adobe  gate,  protected  from  the  weather  by  a  little 
covering  of  red  tiles.  There  must  have  been  some- 
thing prophetic  about  his  bidding  us  good-by  at 
the  gates  of  a  cemetery,  for  he  was  the  last  honorary 
escort  that  we  had  in  Peru. 

Our  road  led  us  through  a  thickly  populated 
region.  Here  and  there  on  the  roadside,  unfortun- 
ate individuals,  both  men  and  women,  who  had 
been  too  far  gone  to  reach  home  the  night  before, 
were  sleeping  off  the  effects  of  the  Carnival.  Ordin- 
arily one  does  not  see  much  drunkenness  in  Peru, 
but  this  certainly  was  an  exception. 

Small  towns  and  villages  followed  in  quick  suc- 
cession. Then  we  descended  into  the  valley  of  the 
Huarpa  River  and  across  a  well-built  toll-bridge. 
The  bridge  was  so  long  and  so  high  above  the  stream 
that  my  mule  concluded  he  would  stay  on  the  east 


364  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

bank.  He  yielded  to  our  combined  efforts,  but  only 
after  much  beating.  We  now  passed  through  a  semi- 
arid  region  of  cactus  and  mimosa  trees  Hke  the  basin 
of  the  Pampas  River,  until  we  began  to  climb  an 
extremely  steep  ravine.  Several  times  we  lost  our 
way,  and  in  places  the  path  had  been  completely 
washed  out  by  the  rains.  The  crux  came  at  a  little 
waterfall  only  five  feet  high.  So  smooth  was  the  face 
of  the  rock  over  which  the  little  stream  of  water 
trickled  that  our  sure-footed  animals  found  it  im- 
possible to  reach  the  upper  level  until  we  had  built 
a  rude  stone  stairway  which  they  cheerfully  essayed 
to  climb.  Their  energetic  scrambles  were  finally 
rewarded  by  success.  For  three  hours  the  trail 
wound  upwards  as  steeply  as  it  was  possible  to  go, 
until  we  reached  the  bleak  paramo  near  M areas. 

A  magnificent  panorama  lay  spread  out  before 
us.  In  the  foreground  were  hillsides  dotted  with 
thatched  huts  and  fields  where  sheep  and  cattle 
grazed ;  in  the  middle  distance,  deep  valleys  whose 
rivers  had  cut  their  way  down  into  gorges  out  of  our 
sight;  and  far  beyond,  a  magnificent  range  of  moun- 
tains, some  capped  with  snow  and  others  with 
clouds.  It  was  a  little  after  five  o'clock  when  we 
entered  the  picturesque  little  village  of  Marcas  with 
its  two  dozen  huts  scattered  about  under  the  lee  of 
the  rocks  or  clustered  near  the  road.  We  recognized 
it  as  just  the  sort  of  village  where  v/e  would  have 
been  refused  both  food  and  shelter  had  we  been 
alone.  But  as  we  were  accompanied  by  an  energetic 
sergeant  who  did  not  propose  to  allow  any  poor 
Indians  to  stand  in  the  way  of  our  progress,  a  hut  no 


AYACUCHO  TO   LIMA  365 

dirtier  or  more  comfortless  than  the  rest  was  soon 
put  at  our  disposal,  and  the  sergeant  did  his  best  to 
get  us  all  a  good  supper  out  of  our  own  provisions. 

Our  baggage  animals  had  had  a  frightfully  hard 
day  of  it  and  our  soldiers  assured  us  that  if  we  in- 
tended to  catch  the  weekly  train  out  of  Huancayo, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  have  at  least  one  more  beast 
of  burden,  for  although  our  luggage  could  be  con- 
veniently carried  by  two  mules  going  at  a  walk,  if 
we  expected  to  make  forty  miles  a  day,  as  we  hoped 
to  do,  one  animal  must  be  rested  every  other  day. 
Accordingly  the  Indian  alcalde  of  Marcas  was  in- 
structed to  get  us  a  mule.  "But  there  are  no  mules 
here"  he  replied.  A  horse  then.  "Very  well,  there 
is  one  old  one  which  I  will  have  ready  for  you  in  the 
morning."  Soon  after  breakfast  an  old  white  horse 
appeared,  accompanied  by  a  weeping  Indian  woman 
who  had  no  desire  to  take  our  money  and  who  was 
thoroughly  convinced  that  she  would  never  see  her 
horse  again.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  the  horse 
should  go  only  to  the  next  town  where  we  could  get 
another  beast  and  send  this  one  back  by  one  of  the 
Indian  alcaldes  that  now  accompanied  us  from  vil- 
lage to  village,  returning  as  their  task  of  acting  as 
guides  was  taken  up  by  the  alcaldes  of  the  next 
place. 

With  the  aid  of  the  fresh  horse,  we  made  good 
time  and  skirted  the  slopes  of  a  high  range  of  hills 
leaving  the  trim  little  town  of  Acobamba  far  off 
on  our  left.  It  lies  in  the  valley  of  the  Lircay  which 
is  quite  densely  populated  and  seemed  to  be  very 
fertile.    In  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  we  reached 


366  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

UrumyosI  where  there  are  curious  great  rocks 
shaped  like  sugar  loaves.  They  are  of  soft  sandstone 
which  is  easily  worked,  and  a  number  of  caves  have 
been  made  by  poor  people  at  the  base  of  the  rocks. 
After  a  long  cold  ride  and  ten  hours  in  the  saddle, 
we  came  in  sight  of  a  mud-colored  town  called  Pau- 
cara  which  has  long  had  a  very  evil  reputation. 
Whether  this  is  deserved  or  not  we  did  not  endeavor 
to  discover.  The  sergeant  persuaded  the  owner  of 
a  rude  little  hut,  half  a  mile  from  the  town  and  on 
the  direct  road,  to  let  us  spend  the  night  there.  One 
of  our  neighbors  brought  freshly  cut  barley-straw 
for  the  mules,  another  brought  a  dozen  eggs,  and 
with  the  aid  of  our  own  supplies  and  cooking  utensils, 
we  fared  splendidly. 

The  night  was  excessively  damp  and  as  bitterly 
cold  as  it  can  be  only  in  a  genuinely  tropical  coun- 
try when  the  temperature  drops  forty  degrees  after 
the  sun  goes  down  and  an  icy  wind  penetrates  your 
very  bones,  even  though  you  have  hurriedly  put  on 
two  or  three  sweaters  and  a  couple  of  ponchos  as  it 
grew  dark.  There  is  no  cold  like  the  cold  of  the  trop- 
ics. Furthermore  the  carcass  of  a  recently  killed 
sheep  hung  dripping  in  the  hut.  The  floor  was  wet 
and  muddy,  there  were  no  windows  and  only  a  small 
door.   We  wished  we  had  a  tent. 

There  being  no  incentive  to  linger  at  this  charm- 
ing country-house,  our  Indians  were  actually  up 
and  away  before  six  o'clock.  We  had  saved  four 
eggs  the  evening  before  to  be  cooked  for  our  break- 
fast, and  after  loading  our  pack  animals  and  seeing 
them  safely  off  with  all  our  supplies,  we  handed  our 


URUMYOSI 


THE    HUr    NEAR   PAUCARA 


AYACUCHO  TO  LIMA  367 

eggs  and  some  tea  to  the  housewife  and  asked  her 
to  prepare  us  a  frugal  meal.  Alas!  it  was  quite 
impossible.  The  cooking  activities  of  the  evening 
before  had  used  up  every  stick  of  firewood  within  a 
radius  of  a  mile,  and  there  was  no  way  in  which  water 
could  be  boiled.  The  only  provisions  for  our  break- 
fast were  the  raw  eggs.  We  had  before  us  a  ride  of 
forty  miles  over  an  exceedingly  rough  country,  part 
of  which  lay  at  an  elevation  of  fourteen  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea,  so  we  hastily  swallowed  our  eggs 
as  best  as  we  could  and  started  off  with  the  prospect 
of  twelve  hours  in  the  saddle. 

At  first  the  road  wound  slowly  up  the  valley  of 
Lircay,  until  finally  it  climbed  over  the  edge  of  the 
hills  to  a  great  bleak  plateau  where  hundreds  of 
llamas  were  feeding.  When  you  come  to  a  llama 
range  you  may  be  fairly  certain  that  the  altitude  is 
not  far  from  that  of  the  top  of  Pike's  Peak.  Add 
to  this  a  blinding  snow-storm  that  keeps  you  from 
seeing  more  than  six  feet  ahead  of  you,  a  wearied 
mule,  a  very  hungry  rider,  and  the  uncertainty  as 
to  whether  you  are  on  the  right  road  or  not,  and 
you  will  have  a  picture  of  our  predicament  during 
part  of  that  never-to-be-forgotten  day.  At  length, 
to  our  great  delight,  the  trail  began  slowly  to  de- 
scend from  cheerless  paramos  and  little  mountain 
lakes  into  a  great  valley  where,  thousands  of  feet 
below,  we  could  see  huts  and  cultivated  fields. 

Skirting  the  hills  half-way  up  the  valley  and  avoid- 
ing the  attractive  little  trails  that  led  down  to  In- 
dian villages,  we  kept  turning  more  and  more  to  the 
westward  until  we  rounded  a  spur  and  came  on  a 


368  ACROSS   SOUTH   AMERICA 

magnificent  view  of  the  great  river  Mantaro  that 
on  its  way  to  join  the  Apurimac  has  cut  a  wonder- 
fully deep  canon  through  this  part  of  Peru.  A  tor- 
tuous descent  of  two  thousand  feet  brought  us  to 
the  new  toll-bridge  of  Tablachaca  and  onto  an 
excellent  road.  Of  course,  this  does  not  mean  that 
it  could  be  used  for  wheeled  vehicles,  for  of  carts 
there  are  none  in  this  part  of  the  world.  It  simply 
means  that  a  trail  four  or  five  feet  wide  and  reason- 
ably free  from  rocks  and  holes  allowed  the  mules  to 
jog  along  at  a  gait  of  nearly  five  miles  an  hour.  So 
slow  had  been  our  progress  over  the  paramo  that  it 
was  considerably  after  dark  before  we  reached  the 
picturesque  old  stone  bridge  of  Yscuchaca,  re- 
crossed  the  Mantaro,  and  clattered  over  the  cobble- 
stones of  this  well-built  little  town. 

We  had  rather  flattered  ourselves  that  no  one 
here  knew  we  were  coming  and  so  we  had  avoided 
an  official  reception  and  all  possible  attacks  on  our 
digestive  faculties.  But  we  had  to  pay  for  it  by 
finding  that  it  took  nearly  two  hours  longer  than 
usual  before  we  were  able  to  secure  any  accommo- 
dations whatsoever  for  the  night.  The  Gobernador 
of  Yscuchaca  lived  a  mile  or  more  out  of  town  on  his 
country  estate,  and  learning  finally  that  there  were 
two  ''distinguished  foreigners"  in  town,  sent  his 
head  servant  to  welcome  us,  gave  us  the  use  of  a 
room  in  his  town  house,  provided  our  mules  with 
pasturage,  and  the  next  morning  charged  us  three 
times  the  regular  tariff.  I  regret  to  say  that  we  took 
advantage  of  the  absence  of  the  Gobernador  to  pay 
his  major-domo  what  our  sergeant  told  us  was  the 


AYACUCHO  TO  LIMA  369 

legitimate  price  and  left  him  wondering  why  he  had 
not  been  able  to  overcharge  us  as  he  had  certain 
American  civil  engineers  who  had  been  here  not  long 
before,  surveying  for  the  extension  of  the  central 
railway  of  Peru. 

At  present,  that  railway,  begun  many  years  ago, 
goes  from  Lima  to  Oroya  and  thence  south  to 
Huancayo  which  is  nearly  fifty  miles  from  Yscu- 
chaca.  It  is  proposed  now  to  continue  it  from  Huan- 
cayo to  Yscuchaca  and  thence  due  south  to  Huan- 
cavelica  where  there  are  mines  of  quicksilver  and 
copper.  Eventually  it  will  form  one  of  the  links  in 
the  chain  of  the  Pan-American  Railway. 

Our  mules  were  pretty  tired  and  so  were  we,  but 
when  one  is  on  the  home  stretch  it  is  easy  to  travel 
from  early  to  late.  We  rose  before  five  o'clock.  Our 
road  first  crossed  the  Mantaro,  ascended  the  left 
bank  of  the  stream  for  several  miles,  passed  several 
mineral  springs,  and  then  climbed  out  of  the  narrow- 
ing caiion  up  toward  the  village  of  Acostambo.  At 
one  place  where  the  road  had  been  cut  through  what 
looked  like  a  fossil  bed,  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  find, 
in  situ,  a  fossil  bivalve.  Professor  Charles  Schuchert 
of  Yale  University  has  been  so  good  as  to  identify  it 
for  me  as  allorisma  suhcuneata.  It  has  been  found 
also  in  Brazil.  Its  geological  horizon,  the  upper 
carboniferous,  is  widely  distributed  in  South  Amer- 
ica and  is  well  known  about  Lake  Titicaca.  The 
location  of  this  fossil  here  may  indicate  the  presence 
in  this  vicintiy  of  coal-beds.  If  any  could  be  found, 
it  would  be  the  greatest  benefit,  not  only  to  the  rail- 
way that  hopes  some  day  to  pass  through  this  valley, 


370  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

but  also  to  the  copper-smelters  in  the  vicinity.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  Peru  does  not  need  the  coal  for 
power;  these  great  and  rapidly  flowing  rivers  like 
the  Mantaro,  the  Pampas,  and  the  Apurimac  offer 
an  abundant  water-power  that,  transformed  into 
electricity,  would  run  all  the  railroads  and  factories 
that  could  possibly  be  crowded  into  Peru. 

Personally,  I  do  not  believe  in  the  construction  of 
steam  railroads  in  this  country.  The  difhculties  of 
overcoming  steep  grades  are  serious,  and  the  cost  of 
building  is  necessarily  all  out  of  proportion  to  the 
traffic  that  is  likely  to  be  developed.  I  do  believe, 
however,  that  the  future  of  Peru  depends  upon  the 
development  of  her  water-power  and  the  building  of 
light  electric  railways  that  would  be  sufficient  to 
handle  economically  the  product  of  the  mines  and 
to  accommodate  passengers.  If  the  region  were  one 
where  extensive  crops  could  be  cultivated  and  a 
large  amount  of  heavy  freight  developed,  this  argu- 
ment would  not  hold.  Under  the  circumstances, 
however,  I  believe  that  it  is  a  much  safer  investment 
for  capital  and  a  much  more  practical  work  for  the 
government  to  develop  electric  traction. 

At  Acostambo,  a  town  of  perhaps  two  thousand 
inhabitants,  we  tried  to  buy  something  to  eat  for 
lunch,  but  there  was  nothing  to  be  had  except  some 
dough  cakes  that  had  been  "cooked"  In  cold  ashes. 
After  passing  through  two  or  three  small  villages 
where  most  of  the  Indians  seemed  to  be  in  a  state 
of  intoxication,  we  crossed  the  Cordillera  Marca- 
valle  and  found  ourselves  on  the  well-travelled  road 
to  Pampas.  Before  us,  spread  out  in  a  magnificent 


AYACUCHO  TO  LIMA  371 

panorama,  the  fertile,  densely  populated  valley  of 
Jauja.  Watered  by  the  Upper  Mantaro  River  and 
its  affluents,  there  are  over  fifty  villages,  towns,  and 
cities,  clustered  together  in  this  rich  plain.  Imme- 
diately ahead  lay  four  towns  almost  exactly  in  a 
straight  line  and  less  than  ten  miles  apart:  Pucara, 
where  w^e  stopped  long  enough  to  buy  some  parched 
corn  and  freshly  roasted  pork  for  supper,  Sapal- 
lauga,  Punta,  and  Huancayo.  Instead  of  the  deso- 
late region  in  which  we  had  passed  most  of  yester- 
day, we  were  now  in  one  of  the  most  thickly  popu- 
lated parts  of  Peru,  and  felt  as  though  we  were  back 
again  in  civilization.  This  sensation  was  increased 
when  we  began  to  clatter  down  the  long  street  of 
Huancayo.  It  seemed  like  an  age  before  we  finally 
reached  the  business  centre  of  the  city  at  9  P.  M. 
and  surrendered  ourselves  into  the  hands  of  a  cour- 
teous Austrian  hotel  proprietor. 

We  had  spent  nearly  fourteen  hours  In  the  saddle. 
This  was  quite  forgotten  when  we  learned  to  our 
delight  that  there  was  to  be  a  train  for  Oroya  the 
next  day,  for  the  first  time  in  two  weeks. 

We  had  heard  that  the  train  from  Huancayo  left 
usually  on  Sundays,  so  we  had  promised  our  soldiers 
a  sovereign  apiece  if  they  would  see  to  it  that  we 
reached  Huancayo  by  Saturday  night.  As  they  had 
to  accompany  the  slow-moving  pack  animals,  they 
did  not  arrive  themselves  until  the  next  morning, 
somewhat  in  fear  lest  they  had  lost  their  promised 
reward.  When  they  were  assured,  however,  that  we 
had  caught  our  train,  and  when  they  had  received 
their  gold  and  what  was  left  of  our  kitchen  utensils 


372  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

and  supplies,  their  delight  knew  no  bounds,  and  they 
were  constrained  to  embrace  us  in  truly  oriental 
fashion. 

Sunday  morning  Is  a  great  event  in  Huancayo. 
Before  sunrise,  thousands  of  Indians  come  in  from 
the  surrounding  towns  and  villages  for  the  weekly 
Fair.  Two  large  plazas  are  crowded  with  vendors 
of  every  conceivable  kind  of  merchandise :  oxen  and 
mules  raised  nearby,  toys  "made  in  Germany,"  pot- 
tery and  ponchos  made  in  Huancayo,  and  beer  made 
in  Milwaukee.  Overflowing  from  the  crowded  plazas 
the  Fair  extends  for  nearly  a  mile  through  the  main 
street  of  the  city.  The  picturesque  Indians  in  their 
brilliantly  colored  ponchos,  thronging  the  streets 
and  alternately  buying  and  selling  their  wares,  offer 
a  field  for  diversion  that  no  one  should  miss  who 
reaches  Lima, 

Like  the  Mexican  Indians,  so  vividly  depicted  by 
Mr.  Kirkham  in  his  artistic  "  Mexican  Trails,"  there 
are  many  among  the  throng  who  will  "sell  a  hen, 
later  to  bargain  for  a  sombrero,  presently  to  go  upon 
their  knees  within  the  church  yonder,  candle  in 
hand ;  lastly  to  lie  by  the  roadside,  overfull  of  pulque 
and  oblivious  of  this  world,  or  the  next." 

The  type  is  the  same  whether  it  be  seen  on  a  Sun- 
day in  the  Andes  of  Mexico,  Peru,  or  Colombia. 
Only  here  it  is  chicha  that  is  the  favorite  beverage 
instead  of  pulque. 

The  long  expected  train  was  due  to  arrive  at  noon 
and  "to  leave  soon  afterwards."  The  platform  and 
the  newly  constructed  booths  near  the  little  cor- 
rugated-iron station  were  crowded  for  hours  by  in- 


AYACUCHO  TO  LIMA  373 

tending  passengers  and  friends  of  expected  arrivals. 
But  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  almost  dark  in  fact, 
before  the  belated  little  train  pulled  into  the  station 
and  the  runners  from  the  three  Huancayo  hotels 
had  the  satisfaction  of  greeting  their  "friends."  We 
were  informed  that  the  train  would  not  leave  before 
six  o'clock  the  next  morning  so  we  tried  to  possess 
ourselves  in  patience  at  our  comfortable  little  hotel. 

We  were  on  hand,  bright  and  early,  just  in  time  to 
see  the  train  pull  out  of  the  station.  Happily  it  was 
only  a  false  alarm,  and  the  train  soon  backed  down 
to  the  platform  again  and  waited  for  three  quarters 
of  an  hour  for  intending  passengers  to  arrive.  At 
length  the  conductor  decided  he  could  wait  no  longer, 
and  at  6:40  we  pulled  out,  just  before  the  sub- 
Prefect  and  his  friends  arrived  on  the  scene.  A 
young  politician  on  the  train,  who  thought  that  the 
sub-Prefect  wanted  to  go  to  Lima,  pulled  violently 
at  the  bell-rope.  The  engineer,  accustomed  to  that 
form  of  stopping  the  train,  had  detached  the  ropes 
from  the  locomotive  so  that  all  that  the  friends  of 
the  sub- Prefect  were  able  to  do  was  to  pull  several 
yards  of  it  into  the  rear  coach.  Rather  character- 
istically, the  only  four  people  who  were  on  hand  at 
six  o'clock  ready  for  the  train  to  start  on  time,  were 
all  Americans.  The  two  besides  ourselves  were 
artisans  from  the  great  copper  mines  of  Cerro  de 
Pasco  who  were  enjoying  a  week's  vacation. 

At  Jauja  there  is  a  spur  track  which  runs  from  the 
main  line  a  mile  or  more  back  to  the  historic  old  city, 
celebrated  In  the  annals  of  the  Spanish  Conquest 
and  the  Wars  of  Independence.  The  good  people  of 


374  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Jauja,  not  yet  accustomed  to  the  necessary  rules  of 
a  railroad  train  service,  flocked  on  board  the  train 
to  say  "good-by"  to  their  departing  friends  and 
chat  as  long  as  possible.  Taking  no  heed  of  the 
screams  of  the  engine  and  the  cries  of  the  conductor, 
more  than  twenty  ladies,  who  had  no  intention  of 
leaving  town,  were  still  on  board  when  the  train 
pulled  out  of  the  station.  The  conductor  took  them 
a  mile  and  a  half  down  the  track  to  the  main  line ; 
then,  fearing  that  the  mere  fact  that  they  would  have 
to  walk  home  would  not  sufficiently  impress  them, 
he  made  each  one  pay  for  riding!  Twenty  more 
sheepish-looking  individuals  than  the  garrulous 
ladies,  whom  the  conductor  lined  up  in  the  field  a 
short  distance  from  the  tracks  and  charged  for  their 
short  ride,  would  be  hard  to  find. 

At  eleven  o'clock  we  came  to  a  wash-out  and  had 
to  cross  the  Oroya  River  on  planks  hastily  thrown 
over  the  unfinished  new  railroad  bridge.  A  train  was 
waiting  for  us  on  the  other  side,  and  with  very  little 
delay,  all  the  passengers  and  luggage  were  safely 
carried  across  and  we  reached  Oroya  before  four 
o'clock  that  evening. 

Although  there  are  rich  mines  in  the  vicinity  and 
it  is  the  terminus  of  the  new  line,  built  by  American 
capital,  to  the  great  Cerro  de  Pasco  smelters,  Oroya 
is  chiefly  famous  as  the  terminus  of  "the  highest 
railroad  in  the  world,"  and  we  looked  forward  with 
interest  to  our  journey  on  the  morrow. 

The  magnificent  great  viaduct  which  has  fre- 
quently been  pictured  as  formerly  one  of  the  highest 
railroad  bridges  in  existence,  had  come  to  grief  only 


AYACUCHO  TO  LIMA  375 

a  short  time  before,  in  a  rather  tragic  manner.  A 
car,  loaded  with  bridge-construction  material  and 
occupied  by  several  American  engineers,  was  stand- 
ing on  the  bridge  to  which  repairs  were  being  made. 
A  run-away  engine  came  flying  down  the  grade, 
struck  the  car,  jumped  into  the  air,  crashed  back 
on  the  frail  viaduct,  which  gave  way  and  allowed  a 
tangled  mass  of  men  and  metal  to  fall  into  the  cafion 
two  hundred  and  twenty  feet  below. 

This  accident  necessitated  many  delays,  as  all  the 
passengers  and  freight  had  to  be  transferred  by 
mules  or  on  foot  down  into  the  cailon  and  up  the 
other  side  to  the  train  for  Lima. 

The  ride  from  Oroya  to  Lima  has  been  so  fre- 
quently described  by  many  travellers  and  the  excite- 
ment of  coasting  down  from  the  summit  tunnel 
where  the  altitude  is  15,666  feet  to  the  Lima  sta- 
tion, which  is  only  a  little  above  sea  level,  is  so  well 
known,  that  I  will  not  attempt  to  give  my  own  im- 
pressions here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  excitement 
was  increased  if  anything  by  the  fact  that  besides  the 
bridge  accident  another  had  occurred  only  a  few 
days  previously  in  which  a  locomotive  had  left  the 
tracks  and  rolled  down  an  embankment. 

Owing  to  these  accidents  our  train  was  provided 
with  a  very  old  engine  whose  boilers  were  so  leaky 
that  we  had  a  hard  time  climbing  up  from  Oroya 
to  the  divide.  Several  times  we  stopped;  once  for 
three  quarters  of  an  hour  to  allow  enough  steam  to 
accumulate  to  pull  us  around  a  curve.  We  did  not 
object,  however,  for  the  scenery  was  wonderful. 
The  great  craggy  cliffs,  their  slopes  covered  with 


376  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

snow  and  ice,  made  us  realize  that  this  was  really 
the  roof  tree  of  the  continent.  Just  before  entering 
the  summit  tunnel,  the  train  stopped  again,  and  we 
had  a  chance  to  enjoy  a  magnificent  panorama  of 
snow-capped  mountains. 

A  hand -car  with  two  workmen  was  sent  down  the 
road  just  ahead  of  our  train  so  as  to  give  us  some 
sense  of  assurance.  It  is  well  known  that  most 
people  coming  up  this  road  from  Lima  suffer  greatly 
from  soroche  before  they  reach  the  summit.  On  our 
way  down,  however,  most  of  the  passengers  were 
so  well  accustomed  to  high  elevations  that  not  more 
than  three  or  four,  and  they  Peruvian  ladies  from 
Jauja  and  Oroya,  seemed  to  be  affected.  So  far  as  I 
could  judge,  their  trouble  was  due  more  to  car- 
sickness  and  the  lack  of  ventilation  than  to  the 
elevation. 

We  reached  Lima  about  half  past  eight  on  the 
evening  of  March  2d.  Who  can  describe  the  com- 
fort and  luxury  of  those  first  few  hours  in  the  ex- 
cellent Hotel  Maury? 

My  first  duty  the  next  day  was  to  call  on  Presi- 
dent Leguia,  report  on  what  I  had  seen  at  Choqque- 
quirau  and  tell  him  how  very  hospitably  we  had 
been  received  in  the  interior  towns  and  cities.  After 
talking  with  him  for  a  few  moments,  we  were  no 
longer  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  the  Prefects  and 
sub- Prefects  of  Peru  had  been  so  courteous  to  us, 
for  their  chief  is  himself  the  soul  of  courtesy.  Well- 
travelled,  well-educated,  speaking  English  fluently, 
a  trained  business  man,  not  in  the  slightest  degree 
the  type  of  South  American  President  with  which 


AYACUCHO  TO   LIMA  377 

novel-readers  and  playgoers  are  familiar,  he  im- 
pressed us  as  a  man  who  would  do  his  best  to  ad- 
vance the  welfare  of  Peru  without  caring  in  the 
least  how  his  own  affairs  might  prosper  in  the  mean- 
time. 

The  door-keeper  was  a  fine,  tall,  gray-haired 
soldier  who  had  the  manners  of  a  general,  was  rather 
suspicious  of  us  at  first,  but  returned  almost  imme- 
diately after  taking  in  our  cards  and,  with  a  mag- 
nificent bow  and  a  courtly  gesture,  ushered  us  at 
once  into  the  inner  reception  room,  greatly  to  the 
disgust  of  several  pompous,  perspiring  politicians 
who  had  been  warming  their  heels  in  the  gilded  salon 
for  some  time  before  we  arrived.  We  did  not  stay 
long,  and  on  our  way  out  were  again  given  a  demon- 
stration of  interest  by  the  courteous  old  brigadier. 
To  our  sorrow  we  read  a  few  months  afterward  that 
in  the  unsuccessful  revolution  already  referred  to  in 
the  chapter  on  Arequipa,  which  began  by  seizing 
the  presidential  offices  and  in  securing  the  President 
himself  and  his  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  the  revo- 
lutionists had  ruthlessly  killed  the  old  door-keeper. 

Like  every  visitor  to  Lima,  we  too  went  into  the 
cathedral  to  see  the  mummified  remains  of  Francisco 
Pizarro,  the  Conqueror  of  Peru,  and  then  we  took 
a  little  victoria,  drawn  by  a  pair  of  speedy  little  trot- 
ters, and  explored  the  parks  and  boulevards.  We 
saw  the  monuments  and  the  new  public  buildings, 
called  on  the  American  Minister,  whom  we  found 
to  be  a  charming  southern  gentleman,  exceedingly 
well  suited  to  his  diplomatic  profession;  admired 
the  many  vSubstantial  foreign  banks  and   business 


378  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

houses,  and  regretted  that  so  much  of  the  flavor  of 
the  old  colonial  Lima  had  been  lost  in  the  Chilean 
war  and  in  the  recent  era  of  business  prosperity. 
With  electric  lights  and  electric  cars  and  abundant 
foreign  capital,  it  is  not  easy  to  preserve  those  pic- 
turesque features  which  are  so  charming  in  the 
interior  cities. 

At  last  my  journey  overland  from  Buenos  Aires 
had  been  completed.  I  cannot  claim  to  know  it  as 
well  or  as  intimately  as  the  poor  "  foot- walker  "  who, 
if  he  has  been  successful,  must  by  this  time  have 
reached  Buenos  Aires  and  walked  on  foot  twice  over 
this  long  dreary  road.  Nevertheless,  I  can  appre- 
ciate keenly  some  of  the  difhculties  of  travel  in  Span- 
ish-America during  the  colonial  period  when  Lima 
was  the  gay  capital  and  Buenos  Aires  was  merely 
a  frontier  post.  It  is  small  wonder  that  there  was 
little  sympathy  between  Lima  and  Buenos  Aires  in 
those  days. 

Like  my  journey  across  Venezuela  and  Colombia, 
this  taught  me  to  feel  anew  the  stupendous  difhcul- 
ties  that  lie  in  the  way  of  advancing  South  American 
civilization.  It  made  me  admire  tremendously  the 
courage  and  determination  of  those  heroes  of  the 
Wars  of  Independence  who  marched  up  and  down 
this  road  for  fourteen  years  until  they  had  driven 
from  it  the  last  vestige  of  a  foreign  army. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

CERTAIN   SOUTH  AMERICAN   TRAITS 

AS  one  travels  through  the  various  South  Amer- 
ican republics,  becomes  acquainted  with  their 
political  and  social  conditions,  reads  their  literature, 
and  talks  with  other  American  travellers,  there  are 
a  number  of  adverse  criticisms  that  frequently  arise. 
I  shall  attempt  here  to  enumerate  some  of  them,  to 
account  for  a  few,  and  to  compare  others  with  criti- 
cisms that  were  made  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  half  a  century  ago,  by  a  distinguished  Eng- 
lish visitor. 

Although  it  is  true  that  the  historical  and  geo- 
graphical background  of  the  South  Americans  is 
radically  different  from  ours,  it  is  also  true  that  they 
have  many  social  and  superficial  characteristics  very 
like  those  which  European  travellers  found  in  the 
United  States  fifty  years  ago.  The  period  of  time 
is  not  accidental.  The  South  American  Republics 
secured  their  independence  nearly  fifty  years  later 
than  we  did.  Moreover,  they  have  been  hampered  in 
their  advancement  by  natural  difficulties  and  racial 
antipathies  much  more  than  we  have.  Although 
the  conditions  of  life  in  the  United  States,  as  de- 
picted by  foreign  critics  seventy-five  years  after 
the  battle  of  Yorktown,  were  decidedly  worse  than 
the  conditions  of  life  in  South  America  seventy-five 


380  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

years  after  the  battle  of  Ayacucho,  the  resemblances 
between  the  faults  that  were  found  with  us  fifty 
years  ago  and  those  that  are  noticeable  among  the 
South  Americans  of  to-day,  are  too  striking  to  be 
merely  coincidences.  It  is  surely  not  for  us  to  say 
that  there  is  anything  inherently  wrong  with  our 
Southern  neighbors  if  their  shortcomings  are  such 
as  we  ourselves  had  not  long  ago,  and  possibly  have 
to-day. 

The  first  criticism  that  one  hears,  and  the  first  one 
Is  likely  to  make  after  getting  beyond  the  pale  of 
official  good  breeding  in  South  America,  is  that  the 
manners  of  the  ordinary  South  Am-erican  are  very 
bad.  Lest  the  traveller  be  inclined  to  take  such  a 
state  of  affairs  too  seriously,  let  him  read  what 
Dickens  wrote  about  us  and  our  ways  in  1855.  It 
was  a  faithful  picture  of  a  certain  phase  of  Amer- 
ican life.  It  should  be  confessed  that  it  paints  a 
condition  of  affairs  worse  than  anything  I  have 
seen  in  South  America. 

Travellers  who  are  prone  to  find  fault  with  the 
service  at  South  American  hotels  and  restaurants 
will  enjoy  Dickens'  description  of  the  dining-room 
of  a  New  York  boarding-house.  "In  the  further 
region  of  this  banqueting-hall  was  a  stove,  garnished 
on  either  side  with  a  great  brass  spittoon.  .  .  .  Be- 
fore it,  swinging  himself  in  a  rocking-chair,  lounged 
a  large  gentleman  with  his  hat  on,  who  amused  him- 
self by  spitting  alternately  into  the  spittoon  on  the 
right  hand  of  the  stove,  and  the  spittoon  on  the  left, 
and  then  working  his  way  back  again  in  the  same 
order.    A  negro  lad  in  a  soiled  white  jacket  was 


CERTAIN  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRAITS     381 

busily  engaged  in  placing  on  the  table  two  long  rows 
of  knives  and  forks,  relieved  at  Intervals  by  jugs 
of  water;  and  as  he  travelled  down  one  side  of  this 
festive  board,  he  straightened  with  his  dirty  hands, 
the  dirtier  cloth,  which  was  all  askew,  and  had  not 
been  removed  since  breakfast." 

It  is  indeed  hard  for  us  to  overlook  the  table  man- 
ners of  the  average  South  American.  But  how  many 
years  is  it  since  North  Americans  were  all  reading 
and  conning  "Don't!  A  Guide  to  Good  Manners"? 
It  is  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  since  our  self- 
conscious  use  of  the  fork  on  all  possible  (and  im- 
possible) viands  showed  that  we  felt  the  need  of 
improvement. 

To  one  Inclined  to  criticise  the  speed  with  which  a 
company  of  South  Americans  will  dispose  of  their 
food,  let  me  recommend  Dickens'  American  board- 
ing-house table  where  a  "very  few  words  were 
spoken ;  and  everybody  seemed  to  eat  his  utmost  in 
self-defence,  as  if  a  famine  were  expected  to  set  in 
before  breakfast-time  to-morrow  morning,  and  it 
had  become  high  time  to  assert  the  first  law  of 
nature.  The  oysters,  stewed  and  pickled,  leaped 
from  their  capacious  reservoirs,  and  slid  by  scores 
into  the  mouths  of  the  assembly.  The  sharpest 
pickles  vanished;  whole  cucumbers  at  once,  like 
sugar-plums;  and  no  man  winked  his  eye.  Great 
heaps  of  indigestible  matter  melted  away  as  Ice  be- 
fore the  sun.  It  was  a  solemn  and  awful  thing  to 
see.  Dyspeptic  Individuals  bolted  their  food  in 
wedges;  feeding,  not  themselves,  but  broods  of  night- 
mares,  who  were   continually  standing  at  livery 


382  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

within  them.  Spare  men,  with  lank  and  rigid  cheeks, 
came  out  unsatisfied  from  the  destruction  of  heavy 
dishes,  and  glared  with  watchful  eyes  upon  the 
pastry." 

The  conversation  of  a  group  of  young  South 
Americans  is  not  such  as  appeals  to  our  taste.  There 
is  usually  too  much  running  criticism  on  the  per- 
sonal qualities  and  attractions  of  their  women 
acquaintances.  To  them  it  seems  doubtless  most 
gallant.  At  all  events,  it  is  not  sordid,  as  was  that 
conversation  which  Dickens  describes  as  "summed 
up  in  one  word  —  dollars." 

When  Dickens  visited  America,  he  remarked  the 
frequency  of  the  expression  "Yes,  sir"  and  made  a 
great  deal  of  fun  of  us  for  our  use  of  it.  Singularly 
enough,  the  Spanish  "Yes  sir"  —  si  senor  —  is  so 
extremely  common  throughout  South  America  as 
to  attract  one's  attention  continually. 

Another  thing  that  Dickens  noticed  was  our  ten- 
dency to  postpone  and  put  off  from  day  to  day 
things  that  did  not  have  to  be  done.  Yet  there  is  no 
more  common  criticism  of  Spanish-Americans  than 
that  known  as  the  "Manana"  habit.  You  will  hear 
almost  any  one  who  pretends  to  know  anything  at 
all  about  Spanish-America  say  that  the  great  diffi- 
culty is  the  ease  with  which  the  Spanish-American 
says  "Mafiana."  Personally,  I  do  not  agree  with 
this  criticism  for  I  have  heard  the  expression  very 
seldom  in  South  America.  It  is  true  that  it  is  hard 
to  get  things  done  as  quickly  as  one  would  wish,  but 
I  believe  that  the  criticism  has  been  much  over- 
worked.   Undoubtedly  Dickens  was  honest  in  re- 


CERTAIN  SOUTH   AMERICAN  TRAITS  383 

porting  that  the  habit  of  postponing  one's  work  was 
characteristic  of  the  middle  west  as  he  saw  it,  but 
it  would  be  greatly  resented  to-day  and  would  not 
be  true. 

In  many  South  American  cities  one  is  annoyed 
by  the  continual  handshaking.  No  matter  how 
many  times  a  day  you  meet  a  man,  he  expects  you 
solemnly  to  shake  hands  with  him  just  as  did  those 
western  Americans  who  annoyed  "Martin  Chuzzle- 
wit." 

So  also  with  "spitting."  I  have  been  repeatedly 
annoyed,  not  only  in  the  provinces,  but  also  in  the 
very  highest  circles  of  the  most  advanced  Republics, 
by  the  carelessness  of  South  Americans  in  this  par- 
ticular, even  at  dinner  parties.  But  how  many  years 
is  it  since  "The  Last  American"  was  prophetically 
depicted  by  J.  A.  Mitchell  as  sitting  amid  the  ruins 
of  the  national  Capitol  with  his  feet  on  the  marble 
rail,  spitting  tobacco  juice?  One  can  hardly  ride  in 
our  street  cars  to-day  without  being  reminded  that 
only  recently  have  the  majority  of  Americans  put 
the  ban  on  spitting.  The  fact  that  there  are  already 
printed  notices  in  some  of  the  principal  South  Amer- 
ican cathedrals  begging  people,  in  the  name  of  the 
local  "Anti-Tuberculosis  Association,"  not  to  spit 
on  the  floor,  shows  that  this  unpleasant  habit  will 
undoubtedly  be  eradicated  in  considerably  less  than 
fifty  years  after  we  have  ceased  to  offend. 

We  also  dislike  intensely  the  South  American 
habit  of  staring  at  strangers  and  of  making  audible 
comments  on  ladies  who  happen  to  be  passing.  Un- 
fortunately, this  is  a  Latin  habit  which  will  be  hard 


384  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

to  change.  The  South  American  has  a  racial  right 
to  look  at  such  customs  differently.  But  if  some  of 
his  personal  habits  are  unpleasant,  and  even  dis- 
gusting from  our  point  of  view,  there  is  no  question 
that  we  irritate  him  just  as  much  as  he  does  us.  Our 
curt  forms  of  address;  our  impatient  disregard  of 
the  amenities  of  social  intercourse;  our  unwilling- 
ness to  pass  the  time  of  day  at  considerable  length 
and  inquire,  each  time  we  see  a  friend,  after  his 
health  and  that  of  his  family;  our  habit  of  elevating 
our  feet  and  often  sitting  in  a  slouchy  attitude  when 
conversing  with  strangers,  are  to  him  extremely 
distasteful  and  annoying.  Our  unwillingness  to  take 
the  trouble  to  speak  his  language  grammatically,  and 
our  general  point  of  view  in  regard  to  the  "innate 
superiority"  of  our  race,  our  language,  and  our 
manufactures,  are  all  evidences,  to  his  mind,  of  our 
barbarity.  We  care  far  too  little  for  appearances. 
This  seems  to  him  boorish.  We  criticise  him  because 
he  does  not  bathe  as  frequently  as  we  do.  He  criti- 
cises us  because  we  do  not  show  him  proper  respect 
by  removing  our  hats  when  we  meet  him  on  the 
street. 

Furthermore,  he  regards  us  as  lacking  in  business 
integrity.  We  are  too  shrewd.  Our  standard  of 
honor  seems  low  to  him.  In  fact,  a  practical  obstacle 
with  which  one  accustomed  to  American  business 
methods  has  to  contend  in  South  America,  is  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  securing  accurate  information 
as  to  a  man's  credit.  Inquiries  into  the  financial 
standing  of  an  individual,  which  are  regarded  as  a 
matter  of  course  with  us,  are  resented  by  the  sensi- 


CERTAIN  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRAITS  385 

tive  Latin  temperament  as  a  personal  reflection  on 
his  honesty.  It  seems  to  be  true  that  the  South 
American  regards  the  payment  of  his  debts  as  a 
matter  more  closely  touching  his  honor  than  we  do. 
He  is  accustomed  to  receiving  long  credits;  he 
always  really  intends  to  pay  sometime,  and  he  gen- 
erally manages  to  raise  installments  without  much 
difficulty.  Yet  when  pressed  hard  in  the  courts,  he 
is  likely  to  turn  and  resent  as  an  intentional  insult 
the  judgment  which  has  been  secured  against  him. 
I  have  known  personally  of  a  case  where  a  debtor 
informed  his  creditor  that  it  would  be  necessary  for 
him  to  come  well  armed  if  he  accompanied  the  sheriff 
in  an  effort  to  satisfy  the  judgment  of  the  court,  for 
the  first  man,  and  as  many  more  as  possible,  that 
crossed  the  door  of  his  shop  on  such  an  errand  would 
be  shot.  This  we  criticise  as  defiance  of  the  law. 
To  the  South  American,  the  law  has  committed  an 
unpardonable  fault  in  venturing  to  convict  him  of 
neglecting  his  honorable  debts. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  South  Americans  them- 
selves are  generally  quite  unaware  of  their  failings 
—  a  species  of  blindness  that  has  frequently  been 
laid  at  our  own  doors.    It  is  due  to  a  similar  cause. 

South  American  writers  who  have  travelled  abroad 
and  seen  enough  to  enable  them  to  point  out  the 
defects  of  their  countrymen  rarely  venture  to  do  so. 
The  South  American  loves  praise  but  cannot  endure 
criticism.  It  makes  him  fairly  froth  at  the  mouth, 
as  it  did  the  Americans  in  the  days  of  Charles  Dick- 
ens' first  visit.  So  the  pleasant-faced  gentleman 
from  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Bevan,  told  young  Martin 


386  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Chuzzlewit.  *'If  you  have  any  knowledge  of  our 
literature,  and  can  give  me  the  name  of  any  man, 
American  born  and  bred,  who  has  anatomized  our 
follies  as  a  people,  and  not  as  this  or  that  party ;  and 
has  escaped  the  foulest  and  most  brutal  slander,  the 
most  inveterate  hatred  and  intolerant  pursuit,  it 
will  be  a  strange  name  in  my  ears,  believe  me.  In 
some  cases,  I  could  name  to  you,  where  a  native 
writer  has  ventured  on  the  most  harmless  and  good- 
humoured  illustrations  of  our  vices  or  defects,  it 
has  been  found  necessary  to  announce,  that  in 
a  second  edition  the  passage  has  been  expunged, 
or  altered,  or  explained  away,  or  patched  into 
praise." 

There  is  a  story  in  Santiago  de  Chile  of  a  young 
American  scholar  who  spent  some  time  there  study- 
ing localisms.  When  he  returned  to  New  York  he 
ventured  to  publish  honest  but  rather  severe  criti- 
cisms of  society,  as  he  saw  it,  in  that  most  aristo- 
cratic of  South  American  republics.  As  a  result,  the 
university  from  which  he  came  received  a  bad  name 
in  Chile  and  his  visit  is  held  in  such  unpleasant 
memory  that  his  welcome,  were  he  to  return  there, 
would  be  far  from  friendly.  This  seems  narrow- 
minded  and  perverse  but  Is  exactly  the  way  we  felt 
not  long  ago  towards  foreigners  who  spent  a/^w 
months  in  the  States  and  wrote,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  European  public,  sincere  but  caustic  criticisms. 
American  sensitiveness  became  a  byword  in  Europe. 
Possibly  it  is  growing  less  with  us.  However  that 
may  be.  South  American  sensitiveness  Is  no  keener 
to-day  than  ours  was  fifty  years  since. 


CERTAIN  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRAITS    387 

I  am  willing  to  admit  that  it  ill  becomes  an  Amer- 
ican to  offer  serious  adverse  criticisms  of  the  people 
of  any  country.  Our  own  defects  have  been  so  re- 
peatedly pointed  out  by  foreigners,  many  of  them 
with  distressing  unanimity,  that  we  cannot  afford 
to  set  ourselves  up  as  judges  of  what  South  Ameri- 
cans should  or  should  not  do.  It  is  true  that  the 
South  Americans  have  certain  graces  of  manner 
which  we  lack.  They  are  more  formal  in  their  social 
intercourse,  and  use  more  of  the  oil  of  polite  speech 
in  the  mechanism  of  their  daily  life  than  we  do. 

Climatic  conditions  and  difhculties  of  rapid  trans- 
portation have  had  much  to  do  with  the  backward- 
ness of  the  South  American  republics.  With  the 
progress  of  science,  the  great  increase  in  transporta- 
tion facilities  and  the  war  that  is  being  successfully 
waged  against  tropical  diseases,  a  change  is  coming 
about  which  we  must  be  ready  to  meet. 

It  is  particularly  important  that  we  should  realize 
that  the  political  conditions  of  the  larger  republics 
are  very  much  more  stable  than  our  newspaper  and 
novel -reading  public  are  aware  of.  Lynchings  are 
unheard  of.  Serious  riots,  such  as  some  of  our  largest 
American  cities  have  seen  within  the  past  genera- 
tion, are  no  more  common  with  them  than  with  us. 
It :  true  that  the  Latin  temperament  finds  it  much 
more  difficult  to  bow  to  the  majesty  of  the  law  and 
to  yield  gracefully  to  governmental  decrees  than  the 
more  phlegmatic  Teuton  or  Anglo-Saxon.  But  the 
revolutions  and  riots  that  Paris  has  witnessed  dur- 
ing the  past  century  have  not  kept  us  from  a  serious 
effort  to  increase  our  business  with  France.    The 


388  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

occasional  political  riot  that  takes  place,  of  no  more 
significance  than  the  riots  caused  by  strikers  with 
which  we  are  all  too  familiar  at  home,  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  be  afraid  to  endeavor  to  capture  the 
South  American  market. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  question  that  there  is  a 
great  opportunity  awaiting  the  American  manu- 
facturer and  exporter  when  he  is  willing  to  grasp 
it  with  intelligent  persistence  and  determination. 
South  America  is  ready  to  take  American  goods 
in  very  large  quantities  as  soon  as  we  are  ready  to 
take  time  to  give  attention  to  her  needs.  As  Mr. 
Lincoln  Hutchinson  aptly  says:  "There  is  no  quick 
and  easy  remedy ;  money  must  be  spent,  thoroughly 
equipped  export  managers  must  be  employed,  ex- 
port houses  specializing  on  South  American  trade 
must  be  established,  efficient  travellers  must  be 
sent  out,  technical  experts  employed,  agencies  estab- 
lished, credits  be  given,  minutiae  of  orders  attended 
to,  and,  above  all,  trade  connections  adhered  to  in 
spite  of  allurements  of  the  home  market,  if  we  would 
succeed  in  the  face  of  our  competitors.  Halfway 
measures  can  accomplish  but  little,  and  that  only 
temporary." 

Germany  teaches  her  young  business  men  Span- 
ish or  Portuguese  and  sends  them  out  to  learn  con- 
ditions in  the  field.  American  Universities  long 
ago  learned  the  advantage  of  adopting  Germany's 
thorough-going  methods  of  scientific  research.  Amer- 
ican business  men  have  hitherto  failed  to  realize  the 
importance  of  adopting  Germany's  thorough-going 
methods  of  developing  foreign  commerce.   It  is  high 


CERTAIN  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRAITS    389 

time  that  they  took  a  leaf  out  of  the  experience  of 
the  "unpractical"  universities. 

Finally,  a  word  of  caution  to  those  in  search  of 
information  regarding  the  history,  politics,  or  geo- 
graphy of  South  America.  The  most  unfortunate 
result  of  the  seven  centuries  during  which  Arab, 
Moorish,  or  Mohammedan  rule  dominated  a  part 
or  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  peninsula,  is  the  truly 
Oriental  attitude  which  the  Spanish  and  the  Span- 
ish-American maintains  towards  reliable  informa- 
tion, or  what  we  call  "facts." 

The  student  of  the  East  realizes  that  Orientals, 
including  Turks  and  Celestials,  have  no  sense  of  the 
importance  of  agreeing  with  fact.  They  have  fur- 
thermore a  great  abhorrence  of  a  vacuum.  If  they 
do  not  know  the  reply  to  a  question  they  answer 
at  random,  preferring  anything  to  the  admission  of 
ignorance.  If  they  do  know,  and  have  no  interest 
in  substituting  something  else  for  what  they  know, 
they  give  the  facts.  When  they  have  no  facts  they 
give  something  else.  They  not  only  deceive  the 
questioner,  they  actually  deceive  themselves. 

The  same  thing  is  true  to  a  certain  degree  in  South 
Americans.  Sometimes  I  have  thought  they  were 
actually  too  polite  to  say  "I  don't  know." 

In  South  America  as  in  the  East  it  is  of  primitive 
importance  to  reach  the  men  who  know  and  to  pay 
no  attention  to  any  one  else.  No  one  really  knows, 
who  Is  not  actually  on  the  spot  In  contact  with  the 
facts.  The  prudent  observer  must  avoid  all  evidence 
that  Is  not  first  hand  and  derived  from  a  trust- 
worthy source. 


390  ACROSS  SOUTH  AMERICA 

I  do  not  bring  this  as  a  charge  against  the  South 
Americans.  I  state  it  as  a  condition  which  I  have 
found  to  be  neariy  universally  true.  So  far  as  the 
South  Americans  are  concerned,  it  is  an  inherited 
trait  and  one  which  they  are  endeavoring  to  over- 
come. They  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  having  it,  any 
more  than  we  are  to  be  blamed  for  having  inherited 
traits  from  our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors  which  are  un- 
pleasant to  our  Latin  neighbors  and  for  which  they 
have  to  make  allowance  in  dealing  with  us. 

In  offering  these  adverse  criticisms  of  the  South 
American  as  he  appears  to  me  to-day,  I  must  beg 
not  to  be  misunderstood.  There  are  naturally  many 
exceptions  to  the  rule.  I  know  personally  many 
individuals  that  do  not  have  any  of  the  character- 
istics here  attributed  to  South  Americans  in  general. 
I  have  in  mind  one  South  American,  a  resident  of  a 
much  despised  republic,  whose  ancestors  fought  in 
one  of  the  great  battles  of  the  Wars  of  Independence, 
who  has  as  much  push  and  energy  as  a  veritable  New 
York  captain  of  industry.  He  has  promoted  a  num- 
ber of  successful  industrial  enterprises.  He  keeps  up 
with  the  times;  he  meddles  not  in  politics;  he  enjoys 
such  sports  as  hunting  with  hounds  and  riding  across 
country.  The  difference  between  him  and  the  New 
Yorker  is  that  he  speaks  three  or  four  languages 
where  the  New  Yorker  only  speaks  one  and  he  has 
sense  enough  to  take  many  holidays  in  the  year 
where  the  New  Yorker  takes  but  few.  I  know  an- 
other, a  distinguished  young  lawyer  who  gives  din- 
ner parties  where  the  food  is  as  good,  the  manners  as 
refined,  the  conversation  as  brilliant,  and  the  intel- 


CERTAIN  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRAITS  391 

lectual  enjoyment  as  keen  as  any  given  anywhere. 
He,  too,  speaks  four  languages  fluently  and  could 
put  to  shame  the  average  New  York  lawyer  of  his 
own  age  in  the  variety  of  topics  upon  which  he  is 
able  to  converse,  not  only  at  his  ease  but  brilliantly 
and  with  flashes  of  keen  wit.  I  know  another,  a  dis- 
tinguished historian,  who  has  been  described  by  a 
well-known  American  librarian,  himself  a  member 
of  half  a  dozen  learned  societies,  as  the  "most  schol- 
arly and  most  productive"  bibliographer  in  either 
North  or  South  America.  But  these  are  exceptions 
to  the  general  rule. 

When  we  look  at  South  Americans  at  close  range 
we  may  dislike  some  of  their  manners  and  customs, 
but  not  any  more  so  than  European  critics  disliked 
ours  half  a  century  ago.  And  not  any  more  so,  be  it 
remembered,  than  the  South  American  dislikes  ours 
at  the  present  day. 

In  this  chapter  and,  in  fact,  throughout  the  book, 
I  must  confess  to  having  spoken  more  frankly  and 
critically  than  will  please  some  of  my  kind  friends 
in  South  America.  Although  they  placed  me  under 
many  obligations  by  their  generous  hospitality,  I 
feel  that  it  is  better  for  all  concerned  that  the  truth 
should  be  told,  even  when  it  is  unpleasant.  We  can- 
not have  confidence  unless  we  have  facts.  I  cannot 
pretend  to  have  succeeded  in  always  finding  the 
facts,  but  it  has  not  been  for  lack  of  endeavor.  I  have 
had  no  interest  in  concealing  anything  favorable 
or  unfavorable  which  I  thought  would  make  the 
picture  clearer  or  more  distinct.  Were  we  not  already 
deluged  with  so  much  official  propaganda,  it  would 


392  ACROSS  SOUTH   AMERICA 

have  been  my  privilege  to  tell  more  of  the  wonderful 
natural  resources  which  all  the  South  American 
republics  possess.  But  just  because  it  has  not  been 
the  business  of  "boosters"  or  promoters  to  adver- 
tise difficulties  or  obstacles  to  progress,  it  becomes 
the  more  necessary  for  the  unprejudiced  traveller  to 
lay  more  stress  on  the  existing  human  handicaps, 
than  on  the  wonderful  natural  resources.  It  is  an 
unpleasant  task,  but  I  believe  it  is  worth  doing.  I 
have  no  patience  with  those  writers  who  paint  every- 
thing in  glowing  colors  and  leave  others  to  discover 
the  truth  at  their  own  expense.  Nor  have  I  any 
sympathy  with  those  who  distort  or  emphasize  dis- 
agreeable truths  for  the  sake  of  creating  a  sensation. 
I  will,  however,  plead  guilty  to  being  a  prejudiced 
observer  in  so  far  as  I  am  an  ardent  advocate  of 
closer  and  more  intelligent  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  the  South  American  republics, 
and  a  firm  believer  in  the  truth  that  international 
friendships,  in  order  to  be  lasting,  must  be  built  on 
an  honest  understanding  of  prevailing  conditions 
and  racial  tendencies. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abancay,  289,  290,  295,  324. 
Acobamba,  365,  370. 
Aconcagua,  218. 
Aconcawa,  159. 
Acostambo,  369. 
Agave  plant,  71,  286, 
Aguardiente,  326. 
Alcaldes,  Indian,  284,  365. 
Alfa.  See  Alfalfa. 
Alfalfa,  77,  84,  100,  108,  159. 
Allorisma  subcuneata,  369. 
Almagro,  263,  351. 
Almanza,  Emiliano,  320. 

,  J.  Antonio,  320. 

,  Luis  E.,  320. 

Alpacas,  137,  161. 
Alto  de  La  Paz,  228. 
Amazon,  139,  240,  297,  318. 
American^TTi  LaTaz,  239. 
Americans  in  South  America,  10, 
,     13-15,  24,  26-28,  29,  32,  39-40, 

62,  182,  241,  388. 
Amphitheatre,  Inca,  278. 
Ancacato,  162. 
Ancon,  Treaty  of,  206. 
Andahuaylas,  329-335. 
Anderson,  Geo.  E.,  28. 
Andines.   See  Terraces. 
Angosta  de  Tupiza,  87. 
Angrand,  M.,  320. 
Anta,  plain  of,  283-285. 
Antis,  318. 

Antofagasta,  170-175,  201-2. 
Antofagasta  Railway,  88,  92,  170. 
Aniline  dyes,  262. 
Animal  Industries,  37-39. 
Apurimac,    285,    291,    297,    325, 

368,  370. 
,  bridge  over,  288. 


Apurimac,  rapids  of,  293. 

,  valley  of  the,  318,  321. 

Aramayo,  Senor,  90. 
Araucanians,  192,  357,  358. 
Architect,  Jesuit,  325. 
Architecture,  Inca,  260,  311. 
Arequipa,  215-224. 
Argentina,  30-82  and  passim. 
Arica,  187,  205-209. 
Armadillo,  234. 
Art  School  of  Chile,  192. 
Ascarrunz,  Dr.  Moises,  166. 
Ascotan,  173. 
Atacama,  78. 
Atahualpa,  280,  358. 
Auquibamba,  325-26. 
Automobiles,  18,  25,  31,  33,  36. 
Ayacucho,    108,    144,    321,    324, 

346-351.  360. 

,  battle  of,  281,  325,  350-355- 

Ayala,  Alejandro,  ix. 
Ayamaras,     145,     152-154.     163, 

169,  232,  249,  255,  268. 
Ayavari,  255. 
Ayoayo,  246. 
Ayoma,  battle  of,  162. 
Azequia,  312,  314. 

Bahia,  10-15. 

Bahia  Blanca,  31,  63. 

Ballivian,  Sr.  Don  Manuel  Vi- 
cente, 252. 

Balmaceda,  Pres.,  173,  179,  209. 

Balsas,  226,  235. 

"Baltimore"  episode,  209. 

Bamboo  pipes,  361. 

Banco  Nacional  de  Bolivia,  145. 

Bandelicr,  Professor  Ad.  F.,  218, 
226,  227,  233,  334. 


396 


INDEX 


Banks  and  Banking,  145;  in  Are- 
quipa,  217;  Argentina,  39-40; 
Brazil,  31-32;  La  Paz,  237; 
Tupiza,  88. 

Banquets,  Peruvian,  331,  337, 
356. 

Barbour,  Thos.,  252. 

Barley  straw,  84,  159,  284,  366. 

Barros  Arana,  Diego,  191. 

Bartolo,  135,  252. 

Beazley,  J.  B.,  ix. 

Beer,  335,  372. 

Beggars'  Fair  in  Cuzco,  264. 

Begonias,  290,  297,  326. 

Belgrano,  48,  67. 

Beni,  valley  of  the,  239,  240. 

Bibliographer,  391. 

Billiards,  119,  166. 

Birds,  no,  175,  202. 

Biscachas,  246. 

Blanco  River,  286. 

"Blind  Man's  Guide."  See  El 
Lazarillo. 

Bogota,  35,  47,  196,  223. 

Bola,  315. 

Bolivar,  General  Simon,  50,  52, 
118,  144. 

Bolivia,  49,  56,  57,  73,  79,  83, 
and  passim. 

Bolivia  Railway,  ix. 

Bolivian  Andes,  climbing  and  ex- 
ploration in  the,  249. 

Bolivian  army,  89,  104. 

customs  service,  85. 

Government,  79,  92. 

National  Museum,  252. 

paper  currency,  114. 

physician,  116. 

Bombon,  341. 

de  Bonelli,  Hugh,  200. 

Book  shops,  168,  178-79,  191. 

Brazil,  chapters  I  and  II,  42,  and 
passim. 

Brazil,  trade  of,  10,  14,  20,  24-28. 

British  enterprises  in  Bolivia,  165. 

Broom  flower,  286. 


Bryce,  Rt.  Hon.  James,  233. 
Bubonic  plague,  210,  214. 
Buenos  Aires,  30-45,  60,  72,  73, 

and  passim;  foreign  trade  of, 

68;  history  of,  46-51. 
Buenos  Aires  and  Rosario  R.  R., 

ix,  61,  69. 
Bulimulus,  342. 
Business  methods,  384. 

Caceres,  Lieutenant,  vii,  289,  293, 

298,  303.  305.  345. 
Cachimayo,  140. 
Cachipascana,  224. 
Cacho,  Don  Gaspar  Mauro,  348. 
Cachora,  297. 

Cactus,  77,  86,  95,  341,  364. 
Caisa,  112. 
Calama,  173. 
Calancha,  Father,  322. 
Caldera,  177,  202. 
Calera,  140. 
Callao,  109. 

Camacho,  General,  138. 
Camargo,  100. 
Caracara,  151. 
Caracas,  35. 
Caras  of  Ecuador,  273. 
Carnival  balloons,  355. 
Carnival   season,    346,    350-353, 

360-363. 
Caroline  Islands,  206,  275.  j 

Casa  Nacional  de  Moneda,  129. 
Castelnau,  143. 
Castilla,  President,  320. 
Castillo,  296,  298,  305. 
Cattle,  37,  38,  152,  334,  364. 
Ccapac,  Manco,  322. 
Cebada.   See  barley  straw. 
Central  America,  42. 
Cerro  de  Pasco,  3,  373,  374. 
Chachani,  Mt.,  217. 
Chaco,  70,  78,  131,  139,  165. 
Chaile,    Fermin,    109,    164,    and 

passim. 
Challabama,  285. 


INDEX 


397 


Challapata,  145,   158,   162,   163, 

172. 
Challoma,  150. 
Chavez,  Lopez,  ix. 
Checcacupe,  254,  256. 
Chibchas  of  Bogota,  232. 
Chicha,  134,  153,  246,  347,  350, 

354.  361,  372. 
Chicherias,  134,  256. 
Children's  Sunday  in  La  Paz,  233. 
Chile,  40,  42,  51,  57,  58,  179,  181, 

330,  and  passim. 
Chile  and  Brazil,  185. 
Chile  and  Peru,  357. 
Chilean  and  Peruvian  engineers, 

125. 
Chilean  character,  204. 

hospitality,  187. 

navy,  200. 

Chileans,  124. 

of  to-day,  358. 

Chincha  Islands,  204. 

Chincheros,  335-341- 

Chincona  plants,  146. 

Chocolate,  147,  156. 

Chola,  235. 

Choqquequirau,  291-323. 

Chorolque,  lOO. 

Chucuito,  334. 

Chulpas,  164. 

Chunchas,  318. 

Chuno,  no, 

Chupe,  III,  126,  128,  350. 

Chuquisaca,  143. 

Cinti,  100. 

Cisneros,  Mariano,  320. 

Civil  Engineers,  242,  270-71,  369, 

375;  387. 
Clausilia,  342. 
Coal-beds,  369. 

Coca,  107,  126, 127, 153,  235,  248. 
Cochabamba,  170,  248. 
Cochran,  Thos.  Earl  of  Dundon- 

ald,  51,  200. 
Cock  fight,  213. 
Cocoa,  14,  107. 


CoflFee,  21,  23,  24. 

Coins  and  coinage  of  Bolivia,  88, 

128,  238;  Brazil,  25;  Peru,  145, 

146,  213;  Uruguay,  30. 
Colombia,  147,  378. 
Colpahuayo,  345. 
Colquechaca,  157,  165. 
Commerce.   See  Trade. 
Commercial    houses,   British,  in 

Valparaiso,  199. 
Commercial  prosperity  in  Chile, 

199. 
Commercial  travellers,  9. 
Condor,  305.  • 

Condorkanqui,  346,  353. 
"Conquest  of  Peru"  —  Prescott, 

205. 
Convents  in  Potosi,  129. 
Conway,  Sir  Martin,  249. 
Coiiac,  355. 

Cook,  Capt.  James,  276. 
Copacavana,  226,  227. 
Copper-ore,  205. 
Copper  smelters,  370, 
Coquimbo,  177,  201-02. 
Coracora,  235. 
Corapuna.   See  Koropuna. 
Corcovado,  21. 

Cordillera  de  los  Frailes,  163-64. 
Cordillera  Real,  248. 
Corn,  in  Potosi,  128. 

parched,  254,  371. 

Corrugated  iron,  70. 

Cosmos,  326. 

Costume,  Quichua,  262. 

Cotagaita,  IOO-2. 

Cotton,  14. 

Covadonga,  53. 

"Cradle  of  Gold,"  319. 

Creveaux,  139. 

Criticisms  of  Americans,  379,  387. 

Crucero  Alto,  224. 

Cuchu  Ingenio,  112. 

Curahuasi,  289. 

Currency  of  Chile,  199. 

of  Peru,  213. 


398 


INDEX 


Custom  Houses,  in  Argentina,  31 ; 

Bolivia,  88;  Brazil,  7,  9,  20,  21; 

Peru,  212. 
Cuzco,  205,  233,  251,  255,  258- 

282,  309,  318;  elevation  of,  272; 

university  of,  268,  269. 
Cuzco  and  Lima,  288. 

Dall,  Dr.,  342. 
Dasypus  vellurosus,  234. 
Dentists  in  South  America,  270. 
Desaguadero  River,  164,  246. 
Desert  of  Arequipa,  215. 
Dickens,  Charles,  380,  385. 
Discovery  of  silver  at  Potosi,  121. 
Diseases,  tropical,  387. 
Dishes,  silver,  147. 
Dixon,  Prof.  Roland  B.,  323, 
Dolls  of  Sucre,  147. 
"Don  Mariano,"  293,  301. 
Doorways,  monolithic,  249,  251. 
Drug  store  in  Potosi,  127. 
Drums  at  Carnival,  361. 
Dry  season,  the,  84;  cf.   Rainy 

season. 
Duck,  227. 
Durand,  Dr.,  220. 
Dutch  in  Brazil,  5-6. 

Earthquakes  in  Arequipa,  216. 

Easter  Island,  276. 

Ecuador,  57,  339. 

Education    of    South    American 

youth,  269. 
Electric  car,  182. 

Railways,  370. 

R.  R.  of  La  Paz,  230. 

"El  Lazarillo,"  60,  iii,  170. 
"Elzevir"  Press  of  Santiago,  190. 
English  in  Argentina,  31-33,  43- 

44,  47-48,  62,  64;  Bolivia,  124, 

239;    Brazil,  4,   8,   20,   23-26; 

Chile,  179,  193,  199-200. 
Escara,  100,  104. 
Estarca,  86. 
Estero  Patino,  139. 


Estrella,  La,  287. 
Eucalyptus  trees,  61. 
Exhibition,  fine  arts,  192. 
"Exploration  of  the  Valley  of  the 

Amazon,"  —  Gibbon,  288. 
Exposition,  National,  of  Brazil, 

16,  19-20. 
Eyre,  W.  S.,  viii. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  54. 

Ferdinand  VII.  of  Spain,  48. 

Fermin.   See  Chaile. 

Fern,  151. 

Fincas,  141. 

Firemen,  volunteer,  of  Santiago, 

188. 
Fireworks,  338. 
Fish,  175. 

Flute,  Ayamara,  234. 
Folding-cots,  218. 
Fortifications,  Inca,  273. 
Fortress,  Inca,  274,  286,  310. 
Fossils,  369. 
Franco,  Sr.  A.,  ix. 
French,  in  Argentina,  61 ;  Bolivia, 

124;  Brazil,  4,  17,  20,  31,  61; 

South  America,  124. 
Fruit,  in  Argentina,  73;    Bolivia, 

246. 
Furs,  199. 

Gables  in  Inca  houses,  309,  313. 
Games  of  chance,  235-36. 
Garcia,  Marcos,  322. 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  259,  275. 
Gastelu,  Don  Juan,  321. 
Gauchos,  67,  72. 
Geranium,  151. 
German-Americans,  167. 
German    business    methods,    96, 

388. 

Club  of  Oruro,  166. 

Germans,    in  Argentina,   43-62; 

Brazil,  4,  7,  20,  27,  31;  Chile, 

193. 
Goats,  70,  75,  97,  no. 


INDEX 


399 


Gobernador  of  Chincheros,  335; 
Huancarama,  328;  Quinua, 
351;  Talavera,  333,  335,  Tam- 
billo,  343,  344;  Yscuchaca,  368, 

Grace  &  Co.,  W.  R.,  viii,  ix,  231. 

Gran  Chaco.   See  Chaco. 

Grapes,  no. 

Grinding  stones,  308. 

Guamanga,  350-51. 

Guanay,  239. 

Guano,  203-4. 

Guaqui,  252,  254. 

Guemes  Gral.,  72. 

Guinea  pig,  84,  no,  143,  160. 

Guitars,  156,  234. 

Gulls,  160. 

Hail,  158,  345. 

Hand  loom,  134. 

Hanna,  Rea,  ix,  203. 

Harness,  285. 

Harp,  347,  361. 

Harvard    Observatory    at    Are- 

quipa,  216. 
Hats,  146,  263. 

Hay,  Clarence,  ix,  257,  300,  302. 
Head-gear,  women's,  350. 
Heliotrope,  286. 
Herford,  Oliver,  127. 
Hispanic  Race,  53-56. 
Historian,  South  American,  391. 
Hope,  John  Pierce,  ix,  251. 
Horse  racing,  36. 
Horses,  37,  no,  152,  326. 
Hospitality,  Bolivian,  231. 
Hotels,  in  Arequipa,  217;  Aya- 

cucho,  347;  Buenos  Aires,  34; 

Challapata,   217;   Cuzco,   261; 

Huancayo,  371,  373;  Jujuy,  7^- 

74;  La  Paz,  231 ;  La  Quiaca,  78; 

Lima,    376  ;     Mollendo,    214  ; 

Montevideo,  29  ;    Oruro,   166; 

Pernambuco, 8 ;  Potosi,  115, 125; 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  18;   Santiago, 

182;  South  America,  380;  Sucre, 

142;  Tupiza,  89-90. 


Huadquifia,  320. 
Huancarama,  327. 
Huancavelica,  369. 
Huancayo,  369-372. 
Huanchaca,  164. 
Huanta,  362-63. 
Huarocondo,  284. 
Huarpa  River,  363. 
Huatanay  River,  257-58. 
Humahuaca,  77. 
Humidity,  70,  306. 
Hutcheon,  Don  Santiago,  ix,  80. 
Hutchinson,  Lincoln,  28,  388. 

Ice  cream,  331. 
Iglehart,  D.  S.,  ix. 
Ilo,  210. 

Images,  monolithic,  249. 
Inca  Empire,  318,  258. 

palaces,  261. 

roads,  283. 

Rocca,  259. 

stairway,  312. 

stonework,  259. 

stucco,  310,  311. 

Tambos,  149. 

"Inca  Thrones,"  278. 

vases,  279. 

Viracocha,  276. 

Incas,  84,  130,  206,  291, 307-323, 

357,  and  passim. 
Incahuasy,    near   Tambobamba, 

318; 
Ingenios  in  Potosi,  124. 
Iquique,  201,  202,  205. 
Iris,  yellow,  288. 
Irrigation,  77,  84,  100,  IIO,  343. 
"Islands  of  Titicaca  and  Koati," 

the,  334. 
Islay,  211. 
Italians  in  Argentina,  31-34,  45, 

67,  72;  in  Brazil,  4,  20. 
Itaparica,  il. 

Jail  in  Cuzco,  267. 
in  La  Paz,  238. 


400 


INDEX 


Jar,  earthen-ware,  315. 
Jauja,  373;  valley  of,  371. 
Jesuit  church,  265;  in  Arequipa, 

218;  in  Potosi,  126. 
Jesuits,  332. 

Jockey  Club  of  Buenos  Aires,  35. 
Johnson,  Rankin,  ix,  249. 
"Jornal  do  Comercio,"  22. 
Jujuy,  69,  72-74. 
Juliaca,  225,  254. 
Juramento,  72. 

Kari  Kari,  battlefield  of,  132. 
Kirkham,  Mr.,  372. 
Koati,  226. 
Koropuna,  Mt.,  218. 
Kusaie,  Island  of,  206,  275. 

"La  Corona,"  incident  of,  187, 
208. 

"La  Estrella,"  287,  320. 

"La  Glorieta,"  141. 

Laja  Tambo,  113. 

"La  Nacion,"  34. 

Lantanas,  286. 

La  Paz,  145,  170,  228-240. 

La  Plata,  143. 

La  Plata,  National  University  of, 
38. 

"La  Prensa,"  34,  338. 

La  Quiaca,  69,  78,  82,  172. 

La  Raya,  255. 

La  Serena,  202,  28 1,  341,  355. 

Latin-American  Scientific  Con- 
gress, 183. 

Lautaro,  357. 

Lavandais,  E.  de,  320. 

Lawyers  in  South  America,  270, 
390. 

Leguia,  A.  B.,  Pres.  of  Peru,  viii, 
294.331.376. 

Lele,  275. 

Leon,  75. 

Leon,  Marcelino,  319. 

Letona  family,  325. 

Liberal  party  in  Peru,  221. 


Lima,  35,  47,  49,  51,  56,  73,  196, 

369.  376,  378. 
Limari,  str.,  200,  201,  210. 
Limatambo,  286. 
Liniers,  47. 

Lircay,  valley  of,  365,  367. 
Lisbon,  14. 
Livichuco,  160. 
Lizards,  157,  202. 
Llama  drivers,  156. 
Llamas,  77,   no,   113,   115,   133, 

149,    155-161,   255,   326,   331, 

367- 

in  Potosi,  117,  126. 

Locusts,  61,  70,  325. 
Lombardy  poplars,  332. 
Lomellini,  Sr.  C,  263,  279. 
Los  Neques,  346. 
Lotto,  236. 
Lupins,  297,  326. 

Mac,  94,  loi. 

Macha,  158. 

Mackenna  Vicuna,  B.,  191. 

Madre  de  Dios,  river,  240. 

Magellan,  straits  of,  179. 

Maimara,  76. 

Maipo,  51. 

Maize,  no. 

Malaria,  341. 

Mamore,  river,  139. 

Manaos,  240. 

Manco  Capac,  263,  279. 

Mantaro  River,  368-371. 

"Maiiana"  habit,  382. 

Marcas,  364. 

Marcavalle,  370. 

Markham,  Sir  Clements,  146,  267, 

276. 
"Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  383,  386. 
Martinelli,  Don  Federico,  325. 
Matan,  71. 
Matara,  345. 
May,  the  25th  of,  46-48. 
Medanos,  215. 
Medical  School  in  Santiago,  168. 


INDEX 


401 


Medicines,  127. 

Medina,  Jose  Toribio,  189-190. 

Mejia,  215. 

Mendoza,  51. 

Merchandise,  foreign,  326. 

Merino,  Capt.  Louis,  ix. 

"Mexican  Trails,"  372. 

Mexico,  41,  42. 

Mexico  steamer,  174. 

Military  Academy,  Chilean,  194. 

Milk,  condensed,  153. 

Miller,  General  Wm.,  117,  355. 

Mimosa  trees,  71,  72,95,300,341, 

364- 
Miners  at  Potosi,  122. 
Mines,  copper,  173. 

of  Cerro  de  Pasco,  373. 

Mines,  gold,  173;  silver,  157,  164, 

169,  173;  tin,  123,  169.   ' 
Mint  in  Pofosi,  129. 
Misti,  217. 
Mitchell,  J.  A.,  383. 
Mitre  Bartolome,  191. 
Mogrovejo  Pio,  320. 
Mojo,  84. 

MoUendo,  175,  210-214. 
MoUepata,  286,  320. 
Monasteries,     129;     Dominican, 

259;  Franciscan,  219,  220,  265. 
Monobamba,  335. 
Monroe  Doctrine,  42-43. 
"Monroe  Palace,"  19. 
Montes,  Pres.  of  Bolivia,  242,  287. 
Montevideo,  29,  30. 
Montt,  Pres.  Pedro  of  Chile,  viii, 

194. 
Moromoro,  150. 
Moses,  Professor  Bernard,  183. 
Mosquitoes,  341. 
Mountain  sickness,  113,  165. 
Mules,   no,   134,   149,  281,  326, 

342,  360,  372,  and  passim. 
"Mur  triomphal,"  321. 

Napoleon,  48. 

National  Bank  of  Bolivia,  88. 


National  Bank  of  Francisco  Ar- 
gondaiio,  88. 

National  City  Bank  of  New  York, 
242. 

Negroes  in  South  America,  13. 

Nevada  of  Chillihua,  331. 

Newspapers  in  Rio,  22;  Buenos 
Aires,  34;  Tupiza,  90. 

New  York  Herald,  338-340. 

Niches,  Inca,  310,  311. 

Nictheroy,  16. 

Nitrate  Association,  203. 

Nitrates,  Chilean,  173,  202-205. 

"North  Americans,"  40-43,  381. 

North  Central  Railway  of  Argen- 
tina, 69. 

Notre  Dame  University,  130. 

Novoa,  C.  A.,  ix. 

Nunez,  J.  J.,  vii,  290. 

Oahu,  341. 

Ocros,  344. 

Ocuri,  152. 

Oddo,  the  hotel,  182. 

O'DriscoIl,  Mr.,  75. 

Olinda,  5. 

Ollaneta,  General,  108. 

Ollantaytambo,  284,  309,  318. 

Ollawe,  volcano  of,  172. 

"O  Paiz,"  22. 

Oranges,  326. 

Oropeza,  258. 

Oroya,  369,  371,  374. 

Oruro,  79,  80,  162,  164-172,  241, 

245.  248. 

climate  of,  166. 

population  of,  170. 

Oruro-Antofagasta  Line,  79,  173. 


Pachacamac,  252,  312. 

Pachachaca,  325. 

Pacific    Steam    Navigation 

174. 
Paintings,  religious,  252. 
Pajonal,  343. 
Pampa  de  Islay,  215. 


Co., 


402 


INDEX 


Pampa  Tambo,  138. 
Pampas,  the  Argentine,  62-66. 
Pampas  River,  341,  370. 
Pan-American,  railway,  76,  369; 

Scientific  Congresfe,i83;  Union, 

viii. 
Pan  de  Sucre,  248. 
Paraguay,  50,  139. 
Paraguay  River,  139. 
Paramo,  329,  335,  345,  367. 
Parana  River,  63,  139. 
Parodi  Brothers,  343. 
Parrots,  284,  288. 
Patagonia,  63. 
Paucara,  366. 
Paucartambo,  318. 
Paz  Soldan,  322. 
Peaches,  219. 
Pears,  246. 
Peas,  219. 

Pederneiras,  Col.  A.  de,  ix. 
Pernambuco,  3-10,  14. 
Peru,  42,  49-52,  57,  21 1-224,  254- 

378,  and  passim. 
Peru,  Upper,  73,  86,  143,  144. 
Peruvian  Corporation,  ix. 
Peruvian  engineers,  125. 
Petticoats  of  Quichuas,  147. 
Physicians  in  Bolivia,  168;  South 

America,  270. 
Pianos,  287. 
Pigs,  no,  152. 

Pilcomayo,  78,  100,  137,  139,140. 
Pilsbry,  Dr.  H.  A.,  342. 
Pincos  River,  329. 
Pine,  Oregon,  242. 
Pino  Toranzo,  Arturo,  ix. 
Pisac,  310,  318. 
Pisagua,  205. 
Pisculco,  150. 
Pizarro,  106,  259,  280,  351,  358; 

followers  of,  viii,  260;  remains 

of,  377- 
Plata,  Juan  Manuel  Rivas,  320. 
Plums,  219. 
Pneumonia,  167. 


Polo,  203. 

Ponchos,  327,  372. 

Ponchos,  vicuna,  234,  333. 

Pongora  River,  352. 

Poopo,  lake,  161,  164. 

Popcorn,  354. 

Poplar  trees,  332. 

Pork,  371. 

Portenos,  34,  and  passim. 

Portuguese  in  Brazil,  5,  7,  8,  20, 

46. 
Postes,  99,  104,  149,  and  passim. 
Postilions,  104,  136,  137,  149,  159. 
Potatoes,  no;  in  Potosi,  128. 
Potosi,  73,  79,  92,  100,  112,  115- 

133, 169,233,252,  33«;  Cerroof, 

115,  120;  La  Paz  and  Peruvian 

Mining  Association,  61 ;  stage, 

109. 
Pottery,  308,  312,  316. 
Prescott's  "Conquest  of  Peru," 

205. 
Prices,    in    Santos,   23;    Buenos 

Aires,     33;     Montevideo,    30; 

Tupiza,  89. 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Glorieta, 

141. 
Prison.   See  Jail. 

Projection,  cylindrical  stone,  313. 
Pucara  River,  255,  371. 
Pucyura,  322. 
Pulque,  372. 
Punilla,  149. 
Puno,  112,  225,  254. 
Punta,  371. 
Puquiura,  283. 

"Quand  L'Amour  Meurt,"  287. 

Quebracho,  70-71. 

Quebrada  Honda,  138, 

Quichua  garments,  128. 

Quichua  tongue,  266. 

Quichuas,  84,  86,  95,  98,  104-108, 
124, 130, 153-54.  232,  255,  267, 
268,  277,  287,  317,  348,  357. 

Quinoa,  100,  no. 


INDEX 


403 


Quinta  Normal,  192. 
Quinua,  351,  352. 
Quirve,  104,  108,  109. 

Railroads,  in  Argentina,  32,  61- 
79;  Bolivia,  79-80,  164-65,170- 
74, 225, 227,  230,  241,  249,  252; 
Brazil,  8,  9,  21,  23;  Chile,  170- 
74,  178,  179,  205,  208;  Peru, 
206, 211,215, 216, 224-25,  254- 
58,  370.  372-76;  Uruguay,  30. 

Raimondi,  321,  322. 

Rainy  season,  in  Bolivia,  84,  87, 
138,  240;  Peru,  282. 

Recife  (Pernambuco),  4-10. 

Redwood,  California,  242. 

Restaurants  in  South  America, 
380. 

Revolutions,  68,  222. 

Riberalta,  240. 

Rio  Bebribe,  7. 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  16-22. 

Rio  de  la  Plata,  31,  37,  46,  56, 
160. 

Rio  Piedras,  71. 

Riots,  387. 

Rivas,  Rafael,  109. 

Rodadero,  278. 

Rodriguez,  Dr.  J.  C,  22. 

Romero,  Carlos  A.,  323. 

Roosevelt,  President,  331. 

Root,  Ehhu,  viii,  183. 

Rosario,  31,  63. 

Roses,  151,  337. 

Rowe,  Leo  S.,  viii,  183. 

Rua  Ouvidor,  19. 

Rubber,  24. 

Ruins,  115,  121,  250,  272,  291, 
307,  and  passim. 

Ruis  de  los  Llanos,  70. 

Rurrenabaque,  239. 

Sacsahuaman,  206,  263,  272-279. 

Salta,  72. 

Salvia,  290. 

Samanez,  Jose  Benigno,  320. 


San  Antonio,  Port,  240. 

Sand-dunes,  crescent  shaped,  215. 

Sandstone,  366. 

San  Geronimo,  258,  329. 

San  Martin,  Jose  de,  50-52,  155, 

200. 
San  Pedro,  227. 
San  Sebastian,  258. 
Santa  Fe,  66. 
Santa  Lucia,  181. 
Santiago,  Chile,  35,  47,  180-196, 

386. 
Santiago  del  Estero,  66. 
Santo  Domingo,  Convent  of,  258. 
Santos,  22-23. 
Sao  Paulo,  21,  23,  25. 
Sapallauga,  371. 
Saracocha,  224. 
Sargantay,  Mt.,  290,  304,  320. 
Sarmiento,  66. 
Saropalca,  no. 
Sartiges,  Eugene  de,  319. 
Schaefer,  J.  Louis,  viii. 
Schmidt,  Emilio,  338-340. 
School,  Manual  Training,  192. 
School  of  Mines  in  Potosi,  130. 
Schools,  Public,  97,  154. 
Schuchert,  Prof.  Chas.,  369. 
Scots  in  South  America,  4. 
Sea-lions,  175,  202. 
Shawl-pins,  294. 
Sheep,  37,  75,  137,  161,  334,  364, 

366. 
Shells,  land,  341. 
Shepherd,  Wm.  R.,  183. 
Sicuani,  255. 
Siesta,  326. 
Silver.   See  Mines. 
Silversmiths,  147. 
Singing  of  Quichua  women,  354. 
Skulls,  316. 

Skulls,  Deformation  of,  246,  317. 
Slate,  313. 
Sleet,  345. 

Sling  of  llama  wool,  156. 
Smallpox,  210,  214;  in  Rio,  18. 


404 


INDEX 


Smelters  in  Bolivia,  112,  115,  124. 

Smith,  Emilio,  338-340. 

Smith,   Huntington,  Jr.,  ix,  61, 

257. 

Smith,  U.  S.  Grant,  ix. 

Snow,  112,  335,  345,  367. 

Snyder,  A.  G.,  ix. 

Sorata,  239. 

Soray,  Mt.,  304,  320. 

Soroche,  113,  143,  165,  376. 

Sotomayor,  192. 

South  Americans,  characteris- 
tics of,  52;  manners  of,  379, 
391. 

Spain,  53-55. 

Spanish  Armies,  67,  144,  354. 

Spanish  in  South  America,  12,  29, 
33,  45-52,  61,  67. 

Speyer  &  Co.,  242. 

Spindle  wheel,  312. 

"Spitting,"  383. 

Sport,  214. 

Squier,  E.  G.,  251,  259,  261,  342. 

Stage  coach,  83. 

Steamers,  Atlantic,  3,  6,  10,  17, 
26,  29-31,  44;  Chilean,  200- 
203;  Lake  Titicaca,  227;  West 
Coast,  175-177. 

Stewards,  Chilean,  176. 

Stone,  cylindrical  blocks  of,  311. 

Stone-cutting,  game  of,  278. 

Succotash,  347. 

Sucre,  city  of,  108,  112,  133,  142- 
148,  158,  248. 

Sucre,  General  A.  J.,  52,  108,  144, 

325,  341,  352,  354- 
Sugar,  5,  9,  14,  156,  290. 
Sugar-cane,  66,  286,  290,  295,  325, 

343- 
Suipacha,  85. 
Sulphur  springs,  iii,  134. 
Sweet  potatoes,  302. 

Tablachaca,  368. 

Tacna,  187,  206-209,  330. 

Talavera,  330,  334. 


Talcahuano,  178. 

Tambillo,  346. 

Tambo  River,  215. 

Tambobamba,  318. 

Tambos,  99,  149. 

Taraco,  peninusla  of,  226. 

Tarija,  86. 

Tea,  125. 

Tejada,  Jose  Maria  de,  319. 

Temperature,  98,  113,  143,  178, 

366. 
Temple,   Edmund,   61,   76,    144, 

228. 
Temple  of  the  Sun,  258. 
Tenientes,  Indian,  284. 
Tennis,  203. 

Terraces,  no,  307,  313,  315. 
Textiles,  252. 
Theatres,  34-35. 
Thompson,  paymaster,  276. 
Tiahuanaco,  228,  249-253. 
Ties  from  Oregon,  225. 
Tigre  River,  62. 
Tin.    See  Mines. 
Tiquina,  straits  of,  227. 
Titicaca,  island  of,  226,  334. 
Titicaca,  Lake^  86,  164,  224-227, 

249,  310. 
Tobacco,  14. 

Tombs,  ancient,  164,  246,  315. 
"Tonquinoise,"  287. 
Toropalca,  ill. 
Totora,  99. 
Toys,    Ayamara,    234;    German, 

372. 
Trade  and  commerce,  10,  14,  20, 

24-28,  38-39,  46,  127,  and  pas- 
sim. 
Trade  Routes,  49,  60,  73,  93,  239- 

240,  280. 
Trancapata  River,  289. 
Transportation,    difficulties     of, 

387. 
Treasure-seekers,    250,  292,  308, 

321. 
Tres  Cruccs,  77. 


INDEX 


405 


Tucuman,  66-69,  73. 
Tucuman  Express,  64. 
Tumusla  River,  108. 
Tunja,  148. 

Tupac  Amaru,  106,  266. 
Tupiza,  79-80,  87-92,  100,  172, 
338. 

Ucayali,  297. 

United    States    and    Peru,    209, 

337- 
Uquia,  77. 

Uribe,  General  Uribe,  195. 
Urubamba,  284-85,  320. 
Uruguay,  29-30. 
Urumyosi,  366. 
Uspallata  Pass,  51,  57. 
Uyuni,  80,  q2,  lOO,  172. 

Vaca  de  Castro,  351. 
Valparaiso,  178,  179,  198-201, 
Vargas,  Moises,  ix. 
Velarde,  Don  Lino,  218. 
Venezuela,  56,  57,  70,  378. 
Ventilla,  228. 
Viachi,  241-42,  248. 
Vicuna  Ponchos,  234,  327. 
Vicufias,  159,  160,  172,  246. 
Vilcabamba,  322. 
Vilcanota  Mts.,  255. 
Vilcanota  River,  256,  257. 
Vilcapujio,  162. 
Villazon,  Pres.  of  Bolivia,  viii. 
Vineyards,  181. 
Viracocha,  276,  310,  351. 


"Virgins  of  the  Sun,"  314. 
Viscachani,  246. 
Volcan,  75-76. 
Von  Tschudi,  250. 

Wages,  243. 

War  between  Chile,  Bolivia,  and 

Peru,  173,  206. 
War-Club,  stone,  346. 
Wars  of  Emancipation.  See  Vv'^ars 

of  Independence. 
Wars  of  Independence,  viii,  46- 

58,  67,  86,  89,  100,  162,  2C0, 

273.  353- 
Wateree,  U.  S.  S.,  206.. 
Waterfalls,  288,  299. 
Water  power,  370. 
Whirl-bob,  312. 
Whirlwinds,  70. 
Wiener,  Chas.,  318,  320. 
Wilson,  Chas.  L.,  ix. 
Wind,  the  prevailing,  77. 
Wine,  181. 
Wool,  30. 

Yavari,  225,  254. 
Yellow  fever,  214. 
"Yes,  sir,"  382. 
Yllanya,  325. 
Yotala,  112,  140, 
Yscuchaca,  367-68. 
Yuatquinia,  320. 
Yucaes  River,  352. 

Zurita,  284-85. 


1 


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